The Leech Imprint
by JasonMorganfan87
Summary: When Edward tries to leave Bella in the woods, something neither of them expected happens. Bella phases and immediately imprints on Edward. How will the Pack react to a vampire thrown into their circle and how will this all change things between Bella and Edward? Also, how is it that Bella became a shape shifter in the first place?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of its characters.**

**The Leech Imprint**

**Bella's POV **

I was standing in the woods. Edward had just broken up with me. He said that I wasn't good enough for his world and that he and his family would be leaving. It felt like he'd stabbed me in the heart. No, more like he'd reached inside me and torn my heart out of my chest. I thought it was going to kill me.

Edward started to leave and I was going to go after him. I wanted to beg him not to go. But before I could, something weird started to happen. I began to shake wildly. It was almost like I was having a seizure or something but much worse. I couldn't explain it.

"Edward," I said in a loud, terrified voice.

Edward must have heard the absolute terror in my voice because he turned back to me. His eyes widened when he saw me and he was over by me in a second. "Bella? Bella, what's happening?"

I couldn't answer him. I didn't know what was happening. I was shacking more and more and I couldn't figure out why. The next thing I knew, I'd knocked Edward clear across the woods. He must have been thrown a good twenty feet, which was quite the feat seeing as he was so strong.

Edward pulled himself up slightly and looked at me like. He looked at me with this astonished look. It was like I was someone completely different.

At first I thought it was because I'd managed to throw him away from me, but then I looked down and I knew the real reason. My feet, they weren't feet anymore. They were paws, dark brown paws with white streaks in a couple of places. I wasn't human anymore. Whatever happened to me, it had changed me into some kind of animal.

Edward got up and started coming towards me. "B…Bella?"

I tried to talk to him, but all that came out was growling. It was starting to really freak me out. What the hell was happening to me? What had I become?

Suddenly, I heard a loud growl and out of nowhere, a large black wolf was standing between me and Edward. I took a step back. I was afraid. Was it there to hurt me?

The wolf snarled at Edward. _'Back off, Leech!'_

I was shocked. This wolf had just spoken in his head and I heard him. I heard a male voice from this wolf as if he were human.

The wolf turned to me. _'I am human, so are you. I know you must be afraid, but this doesn't make you any less human.'_

'_You can hear me too,'_ I asked in my mind.

'_Yes. It is a gift that comes with phasing. Don't worry, I will explain later. My name is Sam' _he said.

"This can't be happening," Edward said in shock, making it seem like he had at least a good idea of what was going on.

I looked over at Edward and I looked him directly in the eyes. I had looked at him before now since transforming, but I hadn't looked at him directly in the eyes. Everything changed once I did. I couldn't explain it, but I felt as if the world disappeared. Sam was no longer there. No one and nothing was there but Edward. It was like he was the only thing in the world that mattered. It was just him. He was mine.

I had been staring at Edward for several moments, but I finally tore myself away and then I heard Sam's voice._ 'Impossible! He's a leech! There can't be a leech imprint, can there?'_

"What's an imprint?" Edward asked. He could obviously hear Sam too. That wasn't too surprising though. Edward had the ability to hear everyone's thoughts.

Sam obviously heard what I'd been thinking too. _'Wait, so this leech can hear everything we're saying?'_

'_He can hear you. I don't think he can hear me. At least he couldn't while I was human. But answer his question. What's an imprint?' _ That had been what Sam had called Edward. At least I'm pretty sure he was talking about Edward. Edward was the one he kept calling 'Leech'.

'_I'll explain that later. I'll have to explain a lot later, as I'm sure you're very confused,' _Sam told me.

That was putting it mildly. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. All I knew was that I was currently some kind of huge animal, oh, and that my connection to Edward was suddenly ten times stronger.

I heard Sam wince slightly at my last thought. I got the feeling that this hearing each other's thoughts thing was going to get annoying fast.

'_Yes, it will. You're going to have to get used to it unfortunately. Now first, you need to phase,'_ Sam said.

'_Phase?' _I asked.

'_Back into human form. Just think about your body. Don't think about anything else but becoming human again,' _he said.

I did what he said. I pictured my body and on my desire to become human again. Within seconds, my paws became hands and feet again. I stood up on my feet. It was then that I realized I was completely naked. I immediately put my arms across my chest to try to regain some kind of dignity.

Edward took off his jacket and handed it to me. "Here, Love."

I took it from him and wrapped it around my body. "Thank you."

All of a sudden, Sam disappeared into the trees.

"Where's he going?" I asked no one in particular.

"To phase. He'll be right back," Edward told me.

Sure enough, a big, bulky guy with olive skin and short black hair came back wearing just a pair of shorts. I immediately recognized him as someone Jacob introduced me to at First Beach a while back. "You're Sam Uley. I met you with Jacob Black."

"And you're Bella Swan. I'm sorry, I should've realized when you imprinted on him," Sam said as he glanced at Edward.

"You still haven't explained imprinting or anything about this," I said. This was all still confusing and frightening, though it was a little less frightening now that I was human again.

"I'll explain, I promise, though I have to admit it's a little confusing to me too. You're not related to anyone on the reservation, are you?" Sam asked.

I shook my head. "Does that matter?"

"Yes, it does. This thing that happens to us shook only happen if you're one of us. You'll have to come to the reservation. We can figure it all out there," Sam said.

Edward growled slightly next to me. He didn't want me to go, though I wasn't sure why. Just a little while ago, he'd made it clear that he wanted nothing more to do with me. It didn't matter though because I couldn't leave him. I needed him near me. "Edward comes too."

"I'm not allowed on the reservation," Edward said.

"You are now. You're her imprint. That changes things. You can come," Sam said. His voice made it clear that he wasn't happy about it. "But stick close to me. You won't get a warm reception."

Edward nodded ant the two of us followed Sam through the woods.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sam's POV**

I led Bella and the leech into my house. That was something I never thought I'd say. I'd not only allowed a leech onto La Push, but I was also inviting him into my home. No leech had ever made it onto our land and lived to tell about it, not since that one time that Carlisle Cullen and his coven did several years ago when our ancestors were in charge and the treaty was first mad. The fact that it was happening now disgusted me.

Just as we made it into the house, Emily came in from the living room. "Sam, you're back. You just missed…" She trailed off as her eyes met the leech's. Emily had never seen a vampire, but she knew what they looked like and she knew who the Cullens were. "Sam?"

"I'll explain later. This is Bella. She just phased. Could you help her out with some clothes?" I asked. I knew Bella must be really embarrassed to be in nothing but a jacket. She was probably boiling too. She had it wrapped tightly around her so nothing showed. For a normal person that would be fine, but our temperatures were significantly higher.

"Yeah, of course. Come on, Bella," Emily said before leading the newest member of the pack out of the room.

That left me and the le… Edward, alone together. I was going to have to stop calling him 'the leech', I supposed. He wasn't going away, that was something I and the rest of the back and tribal leaders were going to have to accept. Though that was easier said than done. We all barely tolerated letting the Cullens walk around Forks. Now we had to deal with one on our own land.

Why did Bella have to imprint on a damn leech! Of course it wasn't her fault and I knew that. I knew all too well that you didn't choose your imprint. I'd been with someone else when I imprinted on Emily and I hated how much I hurt her, but I couldn't help it. Emily became everything to me, just as the le… Edward was to Bella.

Suddenly I realized that the leech was looking at me intently. He was reading my thoughts. I glared at him. "I would appreciate it if you would stay out of my head."

"It's not something I can control. So is imprinting like a mating thing. We have that," the leech said. Obviously it was going to take me time to get used to calling him by name, even in my head.

"Yes and no. I'll explain later when the rest of the pack and the council elders are around. They're all going to want answers," I said. Oh, I could just picture it. All of us sitting around a bonfire with a leech. That was going to be quite the meeting.

"I'm not sure I should be there for something like that," he said sounding awkward about the idea.

"Normally I'd agree, but you're an imprint which means you're involved. You need to be there," I told him.

"What does this mean for the treaty?"

"It means nothing. The treaty stays intact. You're just the exception." I hated that he was an exception. I hated that there was nothing I could ever do to him. Him being an imprint meant that none of us could ever touch him. He could kill a dozen humans and we couldn't do a thing about it because the imprint connection was sacred. Cullen was untouchable.

"Untouchable? All because Bella loves me?" The leech… Edward asked astonished.

"It's not that simple."

Just then, Bella and Emily came back. Bella was now wearing a pair of low cut jean shorts and a white tank top. "Thanks, Emily. That's much better, though it still feels like a sauna in here."

"Yeah, you're much warmer than you once were. You'll need to get used to the new temperature, but you will," I assured.

Bella handed her imprint his jacket and then narrowed her eyes at me. "You still owe me answers. What's going on?"

"I'm going to explain, but I want the rest of the Pack to be here," I said.

"The Pack?" Bella asked

"Yeah, that's what we're all called. There are two other boys that are like us. I need them to be here, plus our tribe elders. They'll need to know what happened tonight," I explained.

"Okay, have you called them yet?" she asked.

"I won't need to call the boys. They'll figure it out on their own. Hell, they probably already have." I said. Paul and Jared would smell the leech nearby and they'd track him here.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked.

"They'll know he's here," I said as I glanced at the leech. "We can smell bloodsuckers miles away."

"What are you talking about? I don't smell anything," Bella said.

I frowned slightly. That was weird. To me, he reeked. He should to Bella as well since she was one of us. In fact, it should be worse for her since she wasn't used to it. "That's strange. It must have something to do with the imprint though."

Soon, I heard the voices of Jared and Paul outside. They'd tracked the bloodsucker here and they wanted answers. "They're here. Outside. I won't have any phasing with Emily here. That would be disastrous. I'd already phased with her too close one and I'd hurt her. I would never allow that to happen again.

I led the way outside without even waiting for the others to follow. I caught sight of Jared and Paul just as they were coming to the front door.

"Sam, there's a leech around here. I can smell him. He's real close," Jared said.

Bella and Edward came out then and I watched as the boys' faces hardened, especially Paul's. He was the biggest hothead out of all of us. "Okay, guys, calm down."

"You let a leech on our land Sam? You let him in your house?" Paul asked angrily. He began to shake moments later.

Bella, realizing the danger to her imprint stepped in front of him protectively and began to shake as well.

"Bella, Paul, calm down!" I ordered.

"You won't touch him!" Bella yelled at Paul.

"I'll do more than touch him, sweetie. I'm gonna tear him apart," Paul said as continued to shake.

Having just had her imprint threatened, Bella lost the fight and phased, as did Paul seconds later and they both started to fight.

"Whoa, a girl wolf," Jared said in disbelief.

"Bella," the leech said before going to get involved.

"No! You get involved, you'll get hurt," I said. As much as I would love to see Cullen get ripped apart, I couldn't allow it. I couldn't allow an imprint to be harmed. "Jared, phase and protect Cullen."

Jared looked at me with an 'are you serious?' expression on his face.

"Do it!" I ordered. I waited for him to phase and then did so myself. I growled loudly and got into the middle of Paul and Bella. _'Enough! Both of you will stop_ now!"

They both continued to stare and growl at each other. _'I won't let you hurt him!"_ Bella said.

_'Do you even realize what you are? We kill blood suckers! Get with the damn program!'_

_'Not mine!' _she yelled back. I doubted she even registered what Paul had said to her. She was too engrossed with protecting her imprint.

Paul looked at me in shock._ 'Imprint? She imprinted on a leech? Is that even possible?'_

_'Apparently. You know the laws, Paul. We don't harm imprints. Edward Cullen is off limits! Is that understood!" _I asked.

Paul growled. He was no happier about this than I was. _'Yeah.'_

_'Good. Phase back, all of you. Bella, after you've phased, go back in the house and go find Emily for another pair of clothes._

With that said, we all disappeared to phase. We'll that was one crisis averted. It wasn't over though. Now I had to explain to the elders that a leech would forever be a part of our world.


	3. Chapter 3

**Bella's POV**

Edward and I were seated outside Of Sam's house by where Sam and the two boys were setting up the fire. This was the first time I'd actually been able to sit and think about everything. It had been one hell of a night and it wasn't over. First, Edward broke up with me. That alone crushed me more than anything ever had. It felt like I was going to suffocate from the pain.

Then I'd turned into a giant wolf and met Sam, who still wouldn't give me any answers. He kept saying he would explain later. I was really getting sick of that mantra. I wished he'd just get it over with and tell me already. I deserved to know what was happening to me.

Finally, there was what happened when I looked at Edward in the eyes. Sam had called it imprinting. I didn't know what imprinting was, but I know that when I looked at Edward, it was like everything else was gone. It was just him. And it didn't go away when I looked away. Yes, I'd come back to reality and realized that there were other people and things in the world, but my purpose still seemed to be to keep Edward safe and happy. I'd wanted that before, but this was different. I didn't just want those things for Edward now, I _needed_ them.

There was a problem though. Before all this, Edward told me he was leaving. He said he didn't want to be with me anymore. Would he still leave? Nothing had really changed in that degree. I was different now, but he still didn't want me. He would probably go.

At that thought, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. Actually, my whole body started to hurt, worse than when he first told me he was leaving. I felt like if he left, I would die. I couldn't let him go. I just couldn't.

"Bella, are you okay?" Edward asked. My distress must have been visible.

Before I could answer, we both heard Paul's voice. "Hey, Leech. Wanna help with the fire. How about you test it out for us?"

All thoughts of my own pain were gone and I was up and ready to face off with Paul again. "Back off!"

"Enough, Paul," Sam said.

I felt Edward grab my hand. "It's okay, Bella, he's not going to do anything. He just wants to rattle you."

I glared at Paul for a second longer before sitting back down next to Edward.

Soon we all heard cars pull up. "They're here," Jared said.

"This should be interesting," Paul said. He was most likely referring to how the tribal elders would react to Edward's presence. I already knew that everyone here hated Edward and that they knew what he was. I knew from before that at least Billy knew. He'd made that clear once when I spoke with him briefly about then. And if I didn't know then, the fact that everyone was calling Edward a leech would be a dead giveaway. I hated it when they called him that. It was used in a derogatory manner and it bothered me. Edward was a good person.

I shoot my thoughts away and watched as Billy, Harry, and an elderly man I didn't recognize made their way over.

Sam came over and stood in front of us. I think he didn't want the other to see us just yet.

"Sam, what's going on? You took me away from a very promising baseball game," Billy said as he rolled over with Harry's help.

"Sorry about that, Billy, but this couldn't wait. We have a new pack member and the circumstances are unlike any we've ever dealt with before,' Sam said.

"Like what?" Billy asked.

"Just try to keep calm, okay. There is an explanation," Sam said. He paused hesitantly for a moment and then stepped aside so that we could be seen.

All three men gasped and glared angrily. "What is the meaning of this?" the older guy I didn't know asked.

"You've brought a cold one onto our land, to one of our meetings?" Harry asked outraged.

"The treaty is breached. He should be in pieces right now!" Billy yelled.

In that moment, all I could see was a threat to Edward's safety. I saw one of them trying to hurt him and I began to lose it, just like with Paul. There was no way I was going to let that happen. They wouldn't hurt Edward. They wouldn't touch him.

I stood up and got in front of Edward protectively. The shaking started immediately after and I knew what would happen. I was going to turn back into that wolf. I couldn't control it. I couldn't do anything to stop it. In that moment, I didn't even wanna stop it. All I wanted was to protect Edward, and if that meant tearing everyone here to shreds, so be it.

Before I knew it, Sam was in front of me. "Bella, calm down. They won't hurt him. They can't hurt him. They're not part of the Pack. They don't have our gifts. The only thing they can do is hate him. He's safe. He's safe."

The only words I really registered were the last ones. Edward was safe. That was what Sam said. Edward was safe. He wouldn't be hurt. He was okay. For some reason I believed Sam's words too. I couldn't explain it, but his voice calmed me and I began to relax.

I finally stopped shaking and I looked around. Billy, Harry, and the guy whose name I didn't know looked beyond shocked, especially Billy and Harry. It was then that I'd realized what I'd almost done. I was ready to turn into a wolf and tear apart a man I'd known since I was a kid. That scared the hell out of me. It scared me to know that there was a part of me that could've and would've killed Billy if not for Sam. For the first time, I knew what it felt like to be Edward.

"It's alright, Bella," Sam said gently. He seemed to be able to sense my fear.

I shuddered. "This is going to keep happening, isn't it?"

Sam nodded. "For a while, yes. It's hard for us to keep control at first. For a while, you'll start to phase whenever you get angry, but eventually, you'll be able to control it. Are you alright now?"

I looked over at Billy. "I could've hurt him. Billy, I'm sorry." A part of me was anyway. This was my father's best friend and a man I'd spent a good portion of my life around. I didn't wanna hurt him. But if it came down to him or Edward, I would do what was necessary to protect Edward. That scared me.

Billy seemed too shocked by what just happened, so Sam answered for him. "It's not your fault, Bella, and Billy knows that. He knows how little control we have at first. Go ahead and sit back down. We're going to get started soon."

I nodded and sat back down next to Edward, who looked very socked. He'd watched me twice jump up to protect him. It wasn't something he was used to. He was normally the protector in our relationship.

Sam turned back to the three elders. "As you've probably realized by now, Bella has phased. That's why we're all here. Now I realize you're all angry at the presence of a blood sucker on our land, but I promise to explain. Please, let's sit down."

It was then that Emily came out of the house and went over to Sam's side.

"You expect us to sit around the fire and discuss tribe matters in the presence of our enemy?" Harry asked irritably.

"Yes. I know it's a lot to ask of you, but his presence is essential. I will explain," Sam said again.

"You'd better," Harry said unhappily before coming over to join us.

Sam and Emily sat down next to Edward and me. The others sat down as well, or in Billy's case, he rolled his chair over to the circle. He was still staring at me in shock.

"You have the floor, Sam. Please explain," Harry sad.

Sam took a deep breath. "First thing's first. Bella, these are the tribal elders. You know Harry and Billy. There's also Quil Ateara III, though we call him Old Quil due to his grandson having the same name."

"Hi," I said quietly.

"Now I know everyone has questions. I'd like for you all to bear with me for a while. I have a lot to explain, and the first person I owe an explanation to is Bella. She's been very patient with me and she deserves an explanation as to what has happened to her.

I immediately gave Sam my complete attention. He was finally going to tell me what was going on. I just hoped I could live with whatever it was.

"Okay, this is probably going to be a little difficult for you to understand. It was easier for the others because they've grown up with our legends. Though, you know what a vampire is, so it might be a bit easer than it would've been. There are legends that go back generations that talk about our ancestors being able to turn into wolves. There's a long, complicated story about it that we don't need to go into tonight, as you're still reeling from what's happened, but we're said to turn into wolves to protect our tribe and the nearby towns from our enemies," Sam explained.

Suddenly I felt like I was having a flashback. I remembered walking the beach with Jacob. He'd explained about his tribe and the Cullens and why they hated each other. He'd specifically mentioned the Quileutes coming from wolves. "I did hear something about this actually. I asked Jacob about the feud between you guys and the Cullens and Jacob told me about your tribe being from wolves and the Cullens and those like them being your enemies. He didn't seem to believe it though. He said it was just a story."

"None of us believed them," one of the boys, Jared, I believed his name was, said. "I mean, who would believe that guys could turn into wolves. It gets a little more believable when it happens to you.

I nodded. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it was true. What Jacob said about the Cullens was true. So we turn into wolves. I kinda figured that was what t was when I saw Sam and I realized I was the Sam. But what does it mean? Why do we turn into wolves? And why's it happening to me. Jacob said this only happens to Quileutes and you said the same thing, Sam, so how can I be one. I'm not Quileute.

"She's right," Billy spoke for the first time. It seemed he finally got over his shock. "Charlie and Renee don't have any Quileutian blood in them. This shouldn't have happened to Bella."

"But it did. So it means that somehow, she must have our genes," Sam said.

Paul laughed loudly. "I guess it means maybe Mommy got some side action."

"Paul! Knock it off! We don't treat or brothers or sister like this! This stops now!" Sam said in a firm parent like tone.

I glared angrily at Paul, but I couldn't but wonder if he was right. Everyone had said that the only way for this to happen to me is if I had Quileute blood in me. My parents didn't, so that stood to reason that one or both of them weren't really my parents. What would I do if that were the case? It wasn't something I even wanted to think about. I loved both my parents, even if they'd never been conventional parents.

Sam's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Bella, we can figure that all out later. For now, you had questions. Why do we turn into wolves? To protect our tribe, our reservation and the surrounding areas."

"From vampires," I said quietly. I remembered Paul saying something like that when he was going to attack Edward and Jacob had said something similar.

"Yes. The cold ones are our natural enemies. It's the Pack's job to stop them when they're around," Harry said.

"We have the ability to rip a vampire apart in our wolf forms. We're very fast and very strong, even in our human forms. You'll soon learn that your skin is harder than it once was," Sam said.

"You said we're still human though," I reminded him.

"We are. We're still flesh and blood. We just differences that enable us to fight our enemies," he said.

"Why us though? I mean, there are only four of us, so it obviously doesn't happen to everyone? Why were we affected?" I asked.

"Well, others could still be affected, but you're right, it doesn't happen to everyone. I don't how why it happened to us specifically. Well, I do know why it did to you. The gene is awakened in the presence of our enemy. When vampires are around, it happens. You're spent the majority of your time around a whole coven of vampires. It's a wonder it didn't happen much sooner," Sam said.

Edward spoke for the first time since the meeting started. "So we caused it. Does that mean it'll stop if we leave?"

I felt it again. The overwhelming pain and suffocation that came with the idea of Edward leaving. He couldn't go. I couldn't be without him.

"Don't even think about it! It won't change anything and you will kill her!" Sam said harshly,

"W...What?" Edward stuttered.

"You don't understand what you are to her, do you? You're not just her boyfriend anymore. You're everything. Her entire world revolves around you and making sure you have what you need. If you were to leave and she couldn't be there for you, it would kill her," Sam explained.

"Sam, are you saying what I think you are? That she imprinted on this cold one?" Old Quil asked in disbelief.

Both Harry and Billy gasped in shock. "It's not possible!"

"No wolf has imprinted on a cold one before," Billy agreed.

"Well, apparently there really is a first time for everything. I witnessed it myself. Bella did imprint on the lee... Edward," Sam. I appreciated him trying to use Edward's name. I knew it was difficult for him.

"You still haven't said what imprinting is," I told him.

"Imprinting is forming an unbreakable bond. It can only happen with one person. You know how some people talk about finding their soul mates? It's sort of like that. That person becomes your soul mate. Although, it doesn't need to mean you'll be with the person intimately. It's deeper for us though. You'll be whatever your imprint wants you to be. Like today. He needed you to be a protector," Sam explained.

"I didn't ask her to protect me. I would never have her put her life at risk for me," Edward said.

"It's not about asking for it. A lot time, it's instinct. You'll find that Bella will know what you need before you do at times," Sam said.

What Sam was saying made sense. What Edward needed was what mattered to me and I seemed to know what he needed a lot. When Paul attacked and Billy spoke about hurting Edward, I felt he needed me to protect him. Nothing was more important to me.

"Sam," Billy called. "I think we need to speak about what this all means privately.

Sam stood up and looked at me. "We'll be back. I'll answer anymore questions you have then."

I nodded and watched him and the three elders go inside.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sam's POV**

I led Billy, Harry, and Old Quil into my house and to the kitchen table. "Have a seat, gentlemen." I knew why they'd asked to speak privately of course. A wolf imprinting on a leech changed things in ways none of us were prepared for. I wasn't sure what they expected to do about it though.

They all sat down at the table, as did I. "Look, everyone, I realize that this is a less than ideal situation."

"I'll say. There is a cold one on our land as we speak. He sat with us as we spoke of tribal affairs," Harry said.

"He's an imprint. Imprints are entitled to hear our secrets and legends. It all affects him too," I said. I didn't like this anymore than they did. I hated that Edward Cullen was sitting around my yard right now, that he'd actually been in touching distance of Emily, but there was nothing I could do about it. Laws about imprints were clear. I couldn't keep Cullen from La Push, I couldn't keep him from our meetings if Bella was present, which she would be, and I most definitely couldn't harm him.

"And you're sure she imprinted?" Old Quil asked.

"Positive. I told you, I saw it myself. I know what goes through a wolf's mind when they imprint. There's no doubt that Bella imprinted on Edward Cullen." I couldn't deny the imprint if I wanted to. What went through Bella's head was exactly the same thing that went through mine when I imprinted on Emily.

"So what do you intend to do about this, Sam? Do you plan to change the treaty?" Billy asked.

"No. The treaty will stay the same. We'll continue to leave the Cullens alone as long as they stay off our land and don't harm humans. But we can't consider Edward simply a Cullen anymore. He's an imprint. That means that he cannot be harmed." Again, I wasn't happy with that either. The law about imprints made it so that Edward Cullen could do whatever he wanted and get away with it. The only thing I could do was pray that he stuck to his diet.

"How far do you intend to take this, Sam? You allowed him on our land once. Do you mean for it to become a habit?" Harry asked.

I sighed. "I don't see how we can keep him off. Bella will be here and she won't be able to be far from her imprint." Being away from our imprints caused emotional pain. It was like a part of us was missing. As much as I hated Cullen, I couldn't justify putting Bella through unnecessary pain.

"We can still keep him off. Bella will only be here for Pack business. At those times, she won't have time for the vampire then. The rest of the time, she'll be in Forks. She can be with him then," Old Quil said.

I immediately shook my head. "No, she won't. I don't want Bella living off the reservation."

"You intend for Bella to live here? You wanna keep her from her father," Billy asked.

"I don't want her to accidently phase and someone get hurt. We all know that can happen. With the boys, they're close by and I keep them busy during the day. I won't have the same control with Bella if she's in Forks," I said. Bella going home to her father would be disastrous. The most remote thing could end up setting her off and then she could phase and hurt her father. She needed to be somewhere that she and others would be safe if she phased. And there was no way in hell she was living with the Cullens. I wouldn't even consider that option.

"Sam's right. It's better that Bella be here where he can watch her, but that means Cullen will be around constantly if we allow him to," Harry said disgruntled.

"If anyone's got a feasible option to keep Cullen away without interfering with the imprint and hurting Bella, I'm all ears. I will gladly accept it." As I expected, no one chimed in. "No, I didn't think so."

"You're in charge of the pack, so there's not much we can actually do about this, but if anyone gets hurt, it's on your head," Billy said before heading for the door. The others followed.

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**Edward's POV**

Well, tonight didn't go the way I expected, not even near the way I expected. They started to. I ripped my own heart out by breaking up with Bella, hurting her in the process. I didn't wanna hurt her, but I didn't want her to be hurt by me or my family either. A wanted her to be able to go on without me and have a normal life.

A normal life. Well, that wasn't in the cards now. Bella was now one of the wolves. To say I was shocked by that would be an understatement. I had been walking away when it happened. I was about to leave Bella and never come back. Then she called out to me. It wasn't that she called out that got me though. I almost expected that. It was the sheer terror in her voice that made me turn around. I could tell that it wasn't just about me leaving. Something had happened and Bella was afraid. I couldn't ignore it. I had to turn around.

That was when I saw Bella trembling worse than I'd ever seen anyone tremble. It wasn't like from the cold, hell, towards the end, it was even too bad to be a seizure. It was bad that I knew it wasn't a normal human thing. Something had been happening to her that wasn't normal and I couldn't do anything about it. Still, I rushed to her side.

When the transformation actually happened, I went flying. Her wolf form had sent me clear across the area. I was shocked by that alone, but when I looked up and saw a big brown wolf with white flecks where my Bella had once stood, I was absolutely floored. I knew what she was of course. I'd seen the wolves before. I knew what they looked like. I just didn't know how the woman I loved could be one of them.

I still didn't have the answer to that question. No one did. We didn't know how Bella could be a wolf. She wasn't from the reservation, at least not that anyone was aware of. There had to be a connection somewhere, but it had yet to be discovered.

There was also something else weird. I could usually tell a wolf by their scent. They smelled like wet dog. Not Bella. Her scent wasn't exactly the same, but it wasn't the same as I got from the rest of then. Maybe it had to do with the whole imprint thing.

Imprinting. That was one thing I hadn't known about wolves until Sam explained it. Sam was right when he said it was and it wasn't like a vampire mating. In a lot of ways it was the same, but it was also different. The pull was the same. A. Vampire who'd met his or her mate would feel a bond to their mate forever, no matter how hard they tried to fight. Imprinting seemed stronger, though I hadn't known that was possible. From what Sam had said and what I'd read in his mind. There was apparently no fighting an imprint. The wolf couldn't fight it, as there imprint was the most important person alive to them. Being far away could cause them pain and kill them if they completely disappeared from their lives. That had seriously freaked me out when Sam said it. The thought of Bella dying wasn't something I could live with.

Another difference was that while mating happened to both parties, imprinting was one siding. According to what I'd read in Sam's and the tribal leaders' minds, the imprint would feel something, as the process was used to find a wolf's perfect match, but the affect would be mostly on the wolf. Bella really lived to make me happy and safe. I wasn't sure what to do with that because I'd always seen that as my job. It seemed like it was my job to make sure no harm came to Bella. Therefore, it was hard for me to do nothing as Bella stepped forward to protect me from Paul. The only thing that stopped me from getting involved was Jared phasing and keeping me away. Otherwise, I would've intervened.

I was interrupted from my many thoughts as Jared made his way over to us and held his hand out for Bella. "Hi. We didn't get a chance to get introduced properly. I'm Jared."

Bella smiled and took his hand. "Bella."

"I'm Edward," I told him before offering my own hand. I doubted he'd take it, but I would offer anyway. I felt I should try to get along with the wolves. They were part of Bella's life now.

Jared seemed hesitant, but to my surprise he took my hand_ 'He's an imprint. He's going to be around, so I need to get used to it.'_

Well, I already liked Jared better than I liked Paul. He wasn't all that keen on me being around, but he was willing to try to at least be civil because of the imprinting. Apparently this imprinting thing was almost sacred.

"Making friends with the leech and his lover now, Jared?" We all heard Paul asked snidely.

Jared turned to Paul. "Paul, knock it off, okay? Bella's one of us."

"Like hell! She's a leech lover!" Paul growled as he made his way over.

Once again, Bella was in front of me protectively in a matter of seconds.

"Yeah, jump to the defense of your bloodsucking lover," Paul goaded.

"What is your problem?" Bella asked angrily.

"My problem is that there's a leech on my land and you brought him here!" Paul yelled.

"Funny, I could've sworn this was Sam and Emily's house," Bella said.

"Okay, guys, calm down. Don't fight," Emily said as she made her way over.

"Emily, you should stay back in case this leads to phasing, you too, Edward," Jared told us.

I wasn't moving. Bella might feel like it was her job to protect me, which still didn't seem right, but I felt it was mine to protect her. What I wanted to do was get in the middle and stop this from escalating, but I was worried that would just make it worse.

Paul glared at Jared. "You're defending him now."

"He's an imprint," Jared said simply. That seemed to be enough for people. The fact that I was an imprint meant that I was not only safe on La Push, but that I would be protected.

Paul grumbled to himself and then he got a malicious look on his face and turned to Bella. "Hey, Leech Lover. Know what an Alpha command is."

I immediately zeroed in on Paul's thought to find out what he was planning.

'_Sam can stop this all right now. One command from him and the relationship with the leech goes away. No one can refute the Alpha,' _Paul thought to himself.

I immediately growled lowly at the thought. I knew from his thoughts that Sam wouldn't do that, but Bella didn't. That was the whole point. Paul was trying to get under Bella's skin.

"Paul, don't," Jared said. He seemed to figure out what Paul was doing too.

Before anyone could say or do anything else, Sam and the tribal leaders came out of the house. The tribal leaders headed to their cars while Sam walked towards us.

Bella made a beeline for Sam and met him halfway. "What's an Alpha command?"

Sam was slightly surprised by the question, as he hadn't covered that yet, but he recovered quickly. "It's a command by the Alpha wolf, which would be me, that all the other wolves have to obey. It would be impossible for you to say no to such a command. You simply wouldn't be able to. Essentially, my word is law."

Bella's eyes widened and found me. She turned back to Sam seconds later and shook her head wildly. "No, you can't!"

'_What? Wait does she think…?' _ Sam's thoughts cut off mid-sentence as he gave Bella his full attention. "No, Bella. I would never ask, let alone command you to leave your imprint. I know what that would mean for you and I wouldn't do it. And whoever told you I would needs to cut the crap! I won't have you tormenting each other!" He looked at Paul as he said the last part.

"You swear?" Bella asked.

"Yes. Now why don't we sit back down and I'll answer any other questions you have," Sam said.

Bella shook her head. "No, I've had enough for tonight. I just wanna go home and sleep. Besides, my dad's probably looking for me by now."

'_This probably isn't going to go over well,' _Sam thought to himself. He replayed the conversation he'd had with the tribal leaders in his head where he told them he was going to have Bella live on La Push.

"You can't do that," I said to him. It wasn't right. He had no right to force Bella to live here. Her life was in Forks. He couldn't ask her to leave it all behind.

'_Stay out of this, Leech! I may not be able to stop you from being with Bella or even coming onto our land, but you won't interfere with my Pack!' _Sam threw at me. He then turned to Bella. "I'm sorry, Bella, but you can't go home. It's not safe. I need for you to stay here on La Push."

"W…What?" Bella asked in disbelief.

"You need to live here. I need you close," Sam said.

"I can't do that. I can't move here. My family and friends are in Forks. If you need me for something you can…"

Sam put his hand up, cutting Bella off. "You can do it and you will." His voice was soft but firm.

"You're commanding me?" Bella asked, probably thinking of the Alpha command.

"Not yet, but I will if I have to. It's not safe for you to be anywhere but here. I'm sorry. This is not a negotiation. You're staying here," Sam said.

Bella huffed angrily. "You've gotta be kidding me! You're basically a stranger to me. I met you exactly one time before tonight! Just once. Now I turn into a wolf and you wanna dictate my life. Who do you think you are?!"

Sam remained calm the entire time. "I am the leader of this Pack. I am looking out for all of you and everyone around you."

"Who said I wanted to be a part of your damn Pack! I didn't ask for this, Sam. I didn't ask to become a wolf or to be forced with people like this jerk over here," Bella said as she pointed to Paul. "And I didn't ask to be bound to a guy who doesn't love me back!"

My head shot up at that. With the drama of everything that had happened, I'd completely forgotten that Bella still thought I didn't love her. That was something I had to rectify right now. "Bella, that's not true."

Bella whipped her head around to me. "Yeah, it is. You said so yourself. You don't wanna be with me. You left me because you didn't really love me and you were sick of pretending. That's what you told me." Her hands were trembling, a sign that she was ready to phase again.

"I didn't mean it. I said that to get you to accept the breakup. I love you, Bella," I told her.

"No, you don't. You're saying that because of this imprinting thing and you don't think you have a choice. I…I can't do this. I can't take anymore. I gotta get out of here," she said before running away towards the trees. She phased about five feet out.

"Bella!" Sam called before following her. He too phased.

I immediately went after them. This was my mess. I needed to clean it up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Bella's POV**

I ran as fast as I could, which it turned out was pretty damn fast. I'd heard Sam come after me shortly after I left. I knew he'd phased because I could hear him in my head. God, I miss the days when Edward was the only telepathic one and he couldn't get into my head. Apparently whatever it was that kept Edward out would not keep Sam at bay.

To his credit, Sam didn't attempt to make me come back. Well, he did once, but that was it. He was still with me though. I could hear him and feel him. I heard him think that maybe if I blew off a little steam, I would calm down. Like that would happen. Running around in wolf form for a while wasn't going to change the hellish day I'd had.

Edward was with him. I could hear Edward, despite the fact that he was quite a ways behind me. I guess what Sam said about good hearing was true. Edward called out to me a couple of times, but I ignored him, despite the growing pain that went through my body with every step I took. Every instinct in me was telling me to go back to him. I ignored that too. This had all just become too much. I didn't know how to deal with it. What hurt the most though was that I was trapping Edward into something he didn't want. The imprint said that we had to be together, but I knew he didn't want that. And that hurt me so much that I thought I was gonna die. Edward's happiness was all I wanted and being with me didn't make him happy.

I was also angry with Sam. This was a guy I'd barely met one time and then it was only for like a minute. Now he was ready to dictate my life like he was my father. I had one of those already, I didn't need another.

'_Bella, I'm sorry you see it that way. I'm just trying to help you,' _Sam thought to me.

I growled, literally. _'Would you stop doing that? There's a reason people don't always speak their thoughts out loud! My thoughts don't belong in anybody's head but mine!_

Sam was quiet for a few minutes. Then he spoke once again through the mind connection. _'Bella, would you please stop now? You can't run from this, and I know you're in pain right now. Running from your imprint is no different than sticking a knife in your own chest. I can make it an Alpha command if I have to, but I'd rather not. Stop."_

I slowed my pace after a minute or two. He was right. Running from Edward was really hurting me and it wasn't really gonna fix anything anyway. _'Okay,' _I thought to him before coming to a complete stop.

'_Thank you. I'm going to phase back and run back and grab clothes for the both of us. The le… Edward is heading your way. Phase back.'_

I immediately thought about my body and within a few seconds, I'd transformed back to my human body.

Edward arrived seconds later and placed his jacket around me again. "Are you okay?"

I was better. The pain in my body got better when Edward was with me again. I was still in some pain though. It caused me pain to know that I had caused Edward pain by imprinting on him. If I hadn't done that, Edward could've moved up with his life. "I…I guess so."

"I didn't mean it, Bella. I really didn't. I said what I said so that you could move on with your life without me," Edward said.

"Because you didn't want me anymore. Look, you don't have to pretend just because of the imprint. It hurts to be away from you, but I'll figure out a way to live with it," I said. I wasn't sure how, but I'd have to find a way. When Edward first said he was leaving, I was going to beg him not to, but I couldn't do that now. I had to make Edward happy. It was a desperate need that I had to fulfill. His happiness came before anything else.

"No! I don't want that. I am not pretending anything. What I'm saying now is the truth. What I said before was the lie. It killed me to say it. I really thought I would die. But after what happened with Jasper, I didn't think I had a choice. I was afraid for you. I was afraid that what happened with Jasper would happen again or what happened with James. I just wanted you free to live a normal life," Edward said.

I snorted. I wasn't sure I believed him, but his words were funny considering what had happened tonight. Well, funny in the ironic kind of way. It wasn't really funny any other way.

"I wasn't expecting this to happen,' Edward said.

"Neither was I."

"In a way, I'm glad it did though. It would've killed me to leave you," Edward said.

"Then you shouldn't have. Say I believe you. Do you have any idea what the thing you said did to me? I felt like I was gonna die it hurt so bad. It wasn't like it is now, but what I felt for you was still stronger than you can imagine," I told him.

"I figured you'd eventually forget eventually. I thought you'd move on with your life and meet someone new. I didn't imagine that you'd turn into a wolf and form a bond with me that would surpass even the connection I felt with you," Edward said.

I began to feel relief and happiness flow through me as I began to believe him, but also pain that he could do that to me. How could he pretend he didn't love me? How could he think for one minute that I didn't love him as much as he loved me? Yes, the imprint made things stronger, but I'd still loved him with all I had before imprinting on him. "You were going to leave me. You were going to take my choices away from me. How could you?"

"I was trying to protect you," he said.

"By breaking me? It would've broken me, Edward. Hell, it did. Before I phased, the pain inside me was killing me. It was torture," I said as I began to cry.

Edward put his arms around me and held me tightly. I let him. I was still upset with him, but I needed his physical reassurance at the same time, and everything inside me felt content in his arms.

We stayed like that for a few minutes before Sam showed up and we parted.

Sam immediately handed me a pair of clothes. "Go ahead and put those on and we'll head back."

I wiped my tears away and took the offered clothing.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked in concern when he realized I'd been crying.

"Yeah. I'll be right back." I went a little deeper into the forest and slipped on the clothes. I was really going to have to do something nice for Emily. This was the third pair of clothes I'd borrowed from her tonight.

Once I was done, I made my way back to Sam and Edward. "So what now?"

"We go back to my place. I'm sorry, Bella, but my position hasn't changed," Sam said.

I really wished he'd stop apologizing. It wasn't making me feel any better about having my choices taken away. "I didn't assume it had. You want me to live here on the reservation and there's nothing I can do about it. What am I supposed to tell my father?" I did not see Charlie reacting well to me saying I was moving to La Push without some kind of explanation as to why, and I knew I couldn't tell him the truth. I didn't need Sam to tell me that much.

"You're eighteen now, Bella. You can move out if you want," Edward said.

"Or if he wants apparently," I said bitterly as I glanced at Sam.

Sam sighed. "Bella do you remember earlier how you almost phased and went after Billy, or how you phased and attacked Paul?"

"Paul phased too and he was going to hurt Edward! As for Billy, you said that wasn't my fault!" I reminded him angrily.

"It's not. We don't have control when we first phase. That's the point I'm trying to make. If you lose control around others, you could phase and hurt someone. Your contact with people outside the pack and your imprint needs to be limited and you need to be close to me so that I can help you," Sam explained.

"Love, could you live with it if you accidently hurt Charlie?" Edward asked

"No," I said quietly. I would hate myself if I hurt Charlie, or anyone else for that matter. I knew deep down that Sam and Edward were right. That didn't mean I had to like my life being torn apart though. "This isn't sucks, Sam."

"I can't argue that," Sam said.

Suddenly Edward pulled his cellphone from his pocked. "My phone's been vibrating all night. It looks like I have several missed calls and a text from Alice."

"What'd she say?" I wondered.

"The family turned around. They're back at the house. Apparently we've both disappeared from her visions. The family's worried."

That was weird. I'd never known anything to disrupt Alice's visions before. Why would she suddenly be unable to see me and Edward? "Well, we should get over there and find out what's going on."

"No," Sam said immediately. "You're one of us now, Bella. Cullen territory is off limits. It breaks the treaty to cross it."

"Bella's always welcome at our house. You can come too. I give you permission," Edward said. I got the feeling that Edward had read in Sam's mind that he wasn't going to let me go without him.

Sam seemed to have an inner debate with himself, as he didn't speak for several moments. "Alright. I suppose I should be there to explain what has happened and what it means that Bella has imprinted on you. Bella, you will stick close to me. I don't trust bloodsuckers, even the Cullens.

Knowing an argument was futile, I nodded and the three of us started to leave.


	6. Chapter 6

**Edward's POV**

I led Bella and Sam to the front door of my house. My family was going to be more than a little surprised. First of all, I was coming home with a werewolf, actually two, but they didn't know about Bella. That was going to interesting. My family would've never guessed in a million years that Bella. No one would've. First of all, no one would've guessed that I'd fall for a future werewolf or vice versa. Werewolves and vampires were natural enemies.

"Oh my God! What is that smell?" Bella asked just as I was about to open the door.

"Bloodsuckers. That's what they smell like to us. It's how we know they're around. It's mutual too. We don't smell good to them either," Sam said.

Bella turned to me. "Do I smell bad to you?"

"No. You don't smell exactly the same. I no longer crave your blood, but you don't smell like them. I don't know what to make of that other than to say it must have something to do with you imprinting on me," I said.

"Your wolf obviously doesn't see him as a vampire, Bella. It just sees your soul mate. The others, however, are a different story. They are our natural enemies. For that reason, I need for you to stay as calm as you possibly can. You will feel the temptation to phase because vampires are present alone. If you lose your temper, you probably won't be able to stop yourself," Sam said.

"That won't happen. I've never gotten angry at the Cullens before," Bella said.

"You weren't a wolf before. It changes things. You'll find it harder to control your emotions now, especially around vampires, as there are enemies. Just do as I say and try to remain as calm as possible," Sam said.

Bella nodded after a minute.

With that, I opened the door and led them inside. I immediately led the way up the stairs to the living room where I was sure everyone was.

As I suspected, I found the entire family in the living room.

"Edward, thank God. We were worried si…" Carlisle cut himself when he got a look at Sam, and probably realized what he was and probably what Bella was as well.

"Who let the dog in?" Rosalie asked as she glared at Sam. She hadn't met Sam before but we'd met the previous wolves the last time we were in Forks, so she knew the smell.

"Uh, everyone, this is Sam Uley. He runs the wolf pack on La Push," I told them.

Carlisle had stiffened quite a bit. "Is something wrong?" he asked Sam.

"I invited him here, Carlisle," I told him.

"The treaty is still intact, but there's a situation that needs to be addressed," Sam said in a business-like manner.

"Have you been with him this whole time, Edward?" Carlisle asked.

"Most of it, yes. Like Sam said, something happened and it required my attention as much as it did Sam's," I said.

Carlisle turned to Alice. "This must be why your visions were impaired. Your gift must not work when the wolves are around.

"That makes sense. That must be why all our futures disappeared right before they got here," Alice said.

"What's she doing here? I thought you finally got rid of her," Rosalie said as she glared at Bella.

I watched as Sam put a hand on Bella's arm to try to keep her calm.

"Rose, that's enough! Bella is part of this family and she always will be. I for one am glad Edward changed his mind. I am curious as to why she smells like Sam does. Is it just because she was around him?" Esme asked.

"Not exactly. Let's just say that things got weird when Edward tried to leave me. Weirder than usual, I should say," Bella said.

"Does it have anything to do with how you got so tall and muscular since the last time we saw you?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah, it does."

"See, I didn't exactly change my mind. When I told Bella I was leaving, it triggered something. Bella doesn't smell like a wolf tonight because we've spent the majority of it with one. She smells like a wolf because she is one," I told them.

My family was absolutely dumbstruck. They all had nothing but shock written all over their faces. None of them expected my clumsy, human Bella to be anything but normal. I couldn't blame them. I had been shocked to my core when I saw Bella transform.

Carlisle was the first to recover. "You're a werewolf? You're Quileute?"

"Apparently. I've yet to figure out how that is," Bella said. I could see from her face that she was quite upset about it, and who wouldn't be. This meant that one or both her parents were not in fact her parents. That would be difficult for anyone to deal with, add that to turning into a wolf and my love was not having the best day.

"Wow, our little Bella isn't as breakable as we thought," Emmett said with a grin.

"Well, I guess this definitely means the relationship is over," Rosalie said with a smirk.

I saw tense and narrow her eyes at Rosalie as she began to get angry.

"Rosalie, back off!" I told her angrily.

"What? You're obviously not going to be with a mangy mutt. She's our enemy," Rosalie said.

My eyes were fixed on Bella as I saw her eyes grow to the same level of coldness as they did when she phased and attacked Paul. She started to shake and I knew what would happen if she didn't calm down soon.

"Bella, take a deep breath and calm down," Sam said as he held her tightly by the arm.

"Rose, you need to stop right now. You're pissing her off and I get the feeling it'll end badly," Jasper said. He was right. What happened with Paul and what almost happened with Billy Black was proof of that.

A part of me almost wanted Bella to phase. Rosalie deserved to get a little snippet of what Bella was capable when provoked. Maybe then she'd think before being so hateful to her. I for one was getting really sick of the comments.

"Oh, what's she gonna do. I'd like to see the dog try to take me on," Rosalie said arrogantly.

"Control your bloodsuckers, Cullen," Sam said to Carlisle before turning back to Bella. He stood in front of her and took her by the shoulders. "Bella, look at me. Now you promised to try to stay calm. I need you to do that now. Do not let the blond leech get to you."

"Listen to him, Love. I'm not going anywhere. Everything will be okay," I told her. As much as I wanted to see Rosalie get a bit of what was coming to her, I knew my Bella and I knew she'd feel guilty afterward if she hurt Rosalie.

Bella took a deep breath and the shaking lessened more and more until it stopped. "I hate this."

"I know," Sam said.

Bella turned back to the family and looked at Rosalie coldly. "Listen to me, you coldhearted bitch! You will never take Edward from me. He's mine and I'm his. I will never let you or anyone else come between us. If you even insinuate anything like that again, you'll be in pieces!"

I was both shocked and pleased at the same time. Bella had stood up for herself with my sister, something she'd never done before. She'd put Rosalie in her place and it was great. I didn't know how this whole wolf thing would affect the future, but if Bella now standing up for herself was a part of it, I knew it wouldn't be all bad.

Jasper suddenly shocked and looked at Bella in disbelief.

"Jazzy, what's wrong?" Alice asked.

"I…I just got a wave of what Bella feels for Edward. It's different than it was. It's much stronger and more intense. It's like every fiber of her body is connected to him. It's like he's all that matters in the world," Jasper said in awe.

"That's exactly how it is. Bella imprinted on Edward just after she phased," Sam said.

"What's imprinting?" Alice asked.

"It's sort of like how we find out mates, only with imprinting, only the wolf does it and it's much stronger," I said.

My family looked shocked. Whether it was the fact that a wolf and a vampire were soul mates that shocked him or if it was me saying that imprinting was stronger than mating, I didn't know.

Once again, Carlisle got over his surprise first. "So what does it mean that Bella imprinted on Edward, Sam? What does it mean for the treaty?"

"Nothing. The treaty stays intact. You don't come on our land or harm humans and we'll leave you alone. However, it does change for Edward. We have certain laws regarding imprint. We can no longer consider Edward part of the treaty. A wolf's imprint is off limits, so we won't touch him no matter what. He's also allowed on our land. We don't like it, but we can't keep him off. He'll also have the benefit of our protection. We protect imprints at all costs," Sam explained.

"Sweet, Eddie, you're untouchable," Emmett said.

I sent him a look that told him shut up. I knew he didn't mean anything by it, but I also knew that Sam hated that he had to give me immunity and I didn't want to piss him off.

"We understand. Edward will be the only one of us to ever cross your land," Carlisle promised.

"Great, can we leave now? Sorry, guys, but it's been one hell of a night and I'm exhausted," Bella said.

"That's probably a good idea. Charlie called a little while ago looking for you, Bella. He claims you went for a walk with Edward and never came back. He's worried," Carlisle said.

"Oh, God! I gotta get home," Bella said before turning to Sam. "Sam, can I please just go home tonight. It's been a long night and I don't wanna make it longer by explaining to Charlie that I'm moving to La Push."

"You're moving to La Push?" Alice asked.

"She can't control her phasing, so staying here will put people in danger, including Charlie," I said.

"Which is why the answer is no, Bella. You just started phasing. You phased three times in just a few hours and almost a couple more times. I won't take the risk," Sam said firmly.

"I can stay with her to make sure nothing happens," I told him.

Sam shook his head. "I can't risk you either. You're an imprint. Like I said, I have to protect you just as I would any other imprint. If she phases and you try to get in the way, you'll get hurt."

"I'll be fine," I said.

"No, Sam's right. I don't want you to get hurt. But, Sam, all I intend to do is eat and sleep. That's all. I swear, tomorrow I'll find a way to explain that I'm moving to La Push," Bella said. She was almost pleading

Sam contemplated on whether or not he should allow it for a minute. "Alright, but I'm going to have Jared phase and stay by you in case something happens."

"Yeah, that's fine. Thank you," Bella said.

"Okay, let's get you home,' I said as I took her hand.

"Bella, I want you to know that you're welcome here anytime. You're a part of this family, no matter what," Carlisle said.

Bella smiled. "Thanks."

With that, Sam, Bella, and I started out of the room.


	7. Chapter 7

**Bella's POV**

I woke up the next day in my bed at home. Much to my surprise, I looked over and saw Edward next to me. "What are you doing here? I told you not to stay here last night." It wasn't that I didn't want Edward with me. There was nothing in the world I wanted more, but I was afraid that I would phase in the night or something and Edward would get hurt. I couldn't live with myself if I hurt Edward.

"You wouldn't hurt me, Love," Edward said confidently.

"Not on purpose, but what if I'd phased without knowing it. I could've hurt you without even realizing it," I told him.

Edward smiled slightly. "It seems we have switched roles. You are as afraid of hurting me as I was of hurting you. But I'm fine. I know the signs of you phasing. I would've moved had it happened. Besides, Jared is right outside your window. He could've intervened if need be."

"He should've told you not to come up here," I grumbled.

I heard a soft growl from outside.

Edward chuckled. "Jared wishes for me to tell you that he tried.

Suddenly I heard my Charlie start to stir in his bedroom. Sam was certainly right about the enhanced hearing. I could hear my father tossing in his bed like he was right in front of me.

"Charlie's waking up," Edward said.

"I know. I hear him. I don't know how to do this," I said. I was going to have to tell Charlie that was moving out of the house and onto the reservation. I didn't know how to tell him that. What could I possibly say to make him understand? He couldn't stop me. Like Edward had said, I was eighteen. I didn't have to stay. But if I didn't come up with some kind of explanation, my dad would think I was leaving because of him. I didn't want that. I'd already made him think that when I'd been forced to flee with the Cullens after the James situation. This time it would be permanently. I couldn't do that again.

"I've actually been thinking about it. I have an idea of what you could say. Tell Charlie what happened last night," Edward said.

I looked at him incredulously. "Is it possible for vampires to go insane?"

Edward laughed slightly. "I don't mean everything. Tell him what happened before you phased. Tell him we broke up."

"What good is that gonna do?" I didn't see where he was going with this. How was telling Charlie that Edward and I broke up gonna help with anything?"

"You can say that you need to get away from Forks and me. Tell him that Sam and Emily are your friends and that they've offered to let you stay with them. That part is true. I read in Sam's mind that he intends for you to stay with him for a while," he said.

"Y…you want me to say that I wanna get away from you." I didn't wanna say that. I couldn't live without Edward. Saying I wanted to get away from him was a blatant lie and I wasn't even sure I could do it.

"Love, it's okay. I know you won't mean it. It's just a way to explain why you're leaving Forks for La Push," Edward said.

I shook my head. "No. Not only do I not wanna say that, it would make you the bad guy. Charlie would come after you. I won't do that."

"Bella, he can't hurt me. You know that. This will make it easier for you and him. He can blame me instead of himself and you don't have to live with the guilt of him thinking you don't want anything to do with him," Edward said.

"I won't make you the bad guy!" I said firmly.

"In a way I am the bad guy. You phased because of me and your phasing is the reason you have to go. Bella, please, I wanna do this for you. I won't be bothered by how Charlie thinks of me. The only thing that will hurt me is knowing you're hurting more than you need to be because of your guilt for letting Charlie think you just didn't wanna live with him anymore," Edward said.

I was conflicted. I didn't wanna do this. I didn't wanna make Edward the bad guy by saying I was leaving because of him, but Edward was telling me that he would be more hurt by my pain and his own misplaced guilt if I allowed my dad to think I was leaving because of him. I didn't want Edward or Charlie to be hurt. I couldn't stop Charlie from being hurt, but I could lessen it. "Okay. But what's happening now is not your fault. You didn't know any of this would happen."

"You should get ready and get it over with," Edward said.

"And you'd better go," I said before getting out of bed. I then turned towards my window. "Jared? Stay close just in case."

"He will," Edward said, obviously having read his mind. He got up and headed for the window, only stopping at the last minute. "I'll come see you later at Sam's."

I nodded and watched him leave.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

After taking the longest shower I could to avoid the inevitable, I got dressed and headed downstairs. I found Charlie in the kitchen with his paper and a cup of coffee.

Charlie turned to me as soon as he heard me come into the room. "Good, you're awake. Sit down. We need to talk about last night," he said with a slight edge to his voice. He hadn't been happy that I'd been gone for so long without even calling him. He'd made it clear that we'd be talking about it the next morning.

I went over and sat down across from my father. "You're right, we do."

"You scared the hell out of me last night, Bella. I almost called the station for backup to help look for you," Charlie said.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to scare you. Things just got really complicated last night and I lost track of time."

"I'll say. What the hell were you doing in the woods for four hours?" Charlie demanded to know.

"Uh, I wasn't actually in the woods that long. Edward took me out to the woods to talk, but I wasn't there the whole time," I said.

"Do not tell you were at the Cullen house the whole time. I called them and Carlisle said he hadn't seen you!" Charlie yelled angrily. I wasn't sure if he was mad because he thought I was lying or because he thought Carlisle might have.

"No, I wasn't at the Cullens. I wasn't even with Edward most of the times." There was lie number one.

"So where were you?" Charlie asked.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself to say something I really didn't wanna say. "Edward broke up with me last. He took me into the woods and told me that things weren't working out. He wanted to move on."

Charlie's face softened considerably after I said that. "Aw, Bells, I'm so sorry. But why didn't you come home?"

"I wanted to clear my head, so I started walking. The next thing I knew, I was over by the Newton's restaurant. Alice saw me walking and picked me up," I told him. I had to tell him how I actually got to La Push and I didn't wanna say I'd walked the whole way. "She'd already known what happened and asked what she could do. I didn't wanna come home. I didn't wanna talk to you about this, but I did wanna talk to someone. I didn't feel comfortable talking to Alice about it since Edward is her brother, so I asked her to drive me to La Push. I have a couple of friends there that I wanted to talk to."

Charlie frowned in confusion. "You know people on the reservation besides Billy, Jacob, and Harry?"

"Yeah. I've been a couple of times and I made friends with Sam Uley and Emily Young," I told him.

"I've seen Sam Uley around a couple of times and Billy and Harry speak highly of him. I wasn't aware you knew him though. Why didn't you ever mention him or this Emily?" Charlie asked.

"I guess it just never came up. Anyway, I was talking with them. That's why I was so late. We were just sitting around talking and I lost track of time," I said.

"Well, I guess I can let it slide this time given the situation. Just please don't ever do this again," Charlie said.

"Um, there's actually something else I need to talk to you about. The breakup was really hard and it still hurts a lot. I don't think I can handle running into Edward around town or at school."

"Oh, Bells, it'll get better," Charlie tried to assure me.

"No, Dad, it won't, not if I'm around him. I need to get away from him." I hated saying that. It actually made my chest hurt to say that I didn't want to be around Edward. He was my entire world. Saying I couldn't be around him was tearing me up inside, even if it was just a tactic to help my father deal with me leaving.

"What are you saying? Are you saying you wanna go back to live with your mother?" Charlie asked.

"No. I don't need to go that far. I do wanna leave Forks though. I was talking to Sam and Emily about all this last night and they suggested staying with them for a while and transferring to the school there," I finally told him. Then I waited. I waited for the explosion I knew was to come.

I didn't have to wait long. Charlie was out of his chair within seconds. "Are you out of your mind?! You think I'm going to let move in with a couple of kids I barely know?!"

I did my best to remain completely calm. I worried that Charlie's anger would upset me so much that I would phase. "Sam and Emily are good people. They're friends and they're trying to help me."

"I don't know who they are! You're not moving in with them! If you wanna leave, fine! I don't like it and I'll miss you like crazy, but I'll understand. You can go back to your mother's. This is not happening!" Charlie yelled.

I looked him directly in the eyes and willed myself to do this. "Yes, it is. I'm eighteen. You can't stop me. I'm going to La Push, today."

Charlie huffed angrily. "All of this because of that little SOB! You're gonna let one break up scare you away?!"

I felt myself get angry when Charlie badmouthed Edward. I knew then that I had to end the conversation quickly because if it continued, I would start to shake soon and then I would phase. So I stood up. "I'm sorry, Dad, but I have to do this."

The anger in Charlie's eyes started to disappear and what was left pain and pleading. "Bella, don't do this. Stay and let me help you."

"I can't," I said before bolting out of the room.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

After packing my things and headed back downstairs. I saw Charlie standing in the doorway of the living room, but I didn't dare look at him in the eyes. I knew if I did, I would see his pain and that would cause me an enormous amount of pain. So after saying a quick goodbye, I walked out of the house.

I walked to my truck and put my bags in the back before going to the driver's side. I paused before getting in and started to cry slightly for the pain I'd just caused my dad. "Damn you, Sam, for making me do this." I didn't know if he was here and close enough to hear me. I hoped he was though. I hoped he'd heard how angry I was at him. And, yes, I knew that he was only trying to help, but right now I didn't care. I just hated him for forcing me into this.

After a few minutes, I got into my car and pulled out of the driveway.


	8. Chapter 8

**Bella's POV**

I made it Sam and Emily's pretty quickly. I'll admit a sped quite a bit on the way there. I thought it was a good idea if I got there as soon as possible. I was still really angry and upset about having to break Charlie's heart the way I did. In fact, I was pretty sure I nearly phased in the truck twice. The only thing to stop it was thinking about Edward. The thought of him seemed to be able to calm me a little bit.

I pulled up to Sam and Emily's and got out of the truck. Jared and Paul were there by the porch when I started walking towards them. Jared must have come back after I left Charlie's.

"Hey, Bella," Jared greeted."

"Leech lover," Paul bit out.

"Unless you wanna loose a limb, I suggest you shut the hell up, Paul," I told him. I was not in the God damned mood to deal with him. I was angry enough as it was. I was an inch away from phasing and if I did, Paul was going to get hurt, badly.

"Bella."

I looked towards the doorway and saw Sam.

"Come inside. And you two, bring her bags in," Sam instructed us all.

I went inside, all the while glaring at Sam. "Are you happy?" I whispered harshly to him as I brushed past him.

Emily was inside with a plate of food when I got there. "Hey, Bella, I thought you might be hungry. The guys wolfed down most of what we have in the house, but I managed to hide some from them."

I smiled at her and took the offered food. I was hungry, starving actually. I found that since becoming a wolf, my appetite had increased by about ten times. Last night when I got home, I ate half of what was in the refrigerator.

I sat down and immediately started digging not the bacon and eggs that was in front of me.

Sam sat down across from me. I tried to ignore him, but then he insisted on talking to me. "So Bella, you're gonna stay with us."

"Yeah, Edward told me that," I said as I continued to eat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jared and Paul come in with my things.

"The guest room, boys," Emily said to them.

"Edward told you? I didn't tell him… Right the telepathy thing. Look, I know you may not be happy about this arrangement and I know you're angry with me," Sam said.

I didn't say anything. I just glowered at him. I was afraid to speak. I was really angry with him for forcing this on me and I knew that if I responded to him, my anger would get worse and I would phase.

"I'm not going to apologize again. I'm doing this for your own good and for those around you," Sam said.

I felt my temper flair considerably. Who was he to talk about my own good? He was not my father! He needed to stop acting like it. Yes, I got that he really was trying to protect my friends and family, but he was also hurting them and making me hurt them. When I thought about the pain I'd caused Charlie on Sam's orders, it infuriated me.

"Outside!" Sam ordered loudly and firmly.

It was then that I noticed my hands were trembling. I immediately got up and walked out of the house as quickly as I could.

Sam obviously followed me because I heard his voice seconds later. "This is why, Bella. This is why you can't be around your father. You could phase at the drop of a hat."

I turned around to face him and glared angrily. "What do you want from me, Sam? I'm pissed, okay? I've had less than twenty-four hours to deal with this! In that time, I turned into a giant wolf, I learned that at least one of my parents are not who I thought they were, and I've got you, a virtual stranger drilling orders at me, forcing me to leave almost everything in my life!"

By the end of my tirade, Paul and Jared had come out as well. "Welcome to the club, Leech lover. We've all gone through that. What, you think you're special?" Paul asked.

I felt my body shake even more as Paul fed into my anger. "Shut the hell up! No one invited you into this conversation!"

"Alright, both of you stop," Sam said.

Paul laughed and walked closer to me. "Conversation? Try temper tantrum."

That was it for me. My anger finally blew completely and I phased. As soon as I did, I leaped after Paul. I pounced on him just as he phased.

Paul threw me off of him. I landed a few feet away, but I quickly got up and walked back towards him. The two of us squared off and started growling at each other.

'_Come on, Leech lover. You think you can take me on? Let's go,'_ Paul taunted.

I growled loudly and leaped on top of the little bastard. The two of us tussled on the ground for a few moments and I took a bite out of his neck causing him to whine in pain. It served him right.

Seconds later, we both heard a very loud snarl. _'Enough! Break it up now!'_

I immediately got off of Paul and took several steps back. I felt compelled to. It was like something was forcing me to obey the order. I could only guess that this was an Alpha command that I'd heard about but hadn't been subjected to until now.

Sam, in wolf form, got between me and Paul. He turned to Paul. _'This has gone far enough! She has phased four times in less than twenty-four hours and half of those times are connected to you!"_

'_It's not my fault she has no control,' _Paul said, causing me to growl at him.

'_Paul, you are hardly one to talk in that aspect. Bella may phase often, but so do you. I don't need her phasing every second because you can't keep your trap shut!" _Sam yelled at him.

'_She was seconds away from phasing anyway,' _Paul said.

I had to grudgingly admit he was right about that. I had been ready to phase even before Paul started in. I had been really angry with Sam and the whole situation. It was only a matter of time before I phased. Paul didn't have to help it along though.

'_What she said. You should've left it alone and allowed whatever was going to happen to happen! Instead, you egged her on and started a fight! This is not going to keep happening. This is not gonna keep happening! Bella is part of the pack! You will treat her like it!" _Sam said firmly.

'_Fine,' _Paul said irritably.

'_Phase back,' _he ordered.

Paul headed for the woods to do as Sam instructed. I went to do the same, but I was stopped by Sam's voice.

'_Get back here, Bella,' _he ordered me.

I stopped and turned back to him. _'I'm going to phase back.'_

'_Not yet you're not. There's something I want you to see. Brace yourself because this isn't gonna be pretty,'_ Sam warned.

A few seconds later I was watching a memory Sam was replaying in his head. He was phasing and Emily was nearby. She was too close to him and he ended up hitting her with his claws.

I whimpered in horror. That was awful. Sam could've killed Emily in that moment. Hell, he was lucky he hadn't killed her. As soon as that thought left me, I remembered that Sam could hear what I was thinking. The last thing he needed was for me to be thinking something like that.

'_No, you're right. I could've killed her. In one moment, I nearly killed the woman I love, my imprint,' _Sam said. I could hear the pain and guilt in his voice. Even now, this still weighed on him.

'_It was an accident,' _I said. What happened wasn't Sam's fault. He couldn't control his phasing. He couldn't stop it from happening.

'_That's the point, Bella. I didn't have control, just like you don't now. I'm not doing this because I like seeing the pain it causes you to walk away from the people you love. I'm doing it because I know what it's like to hurt someone that you care about because of what I am. I tried telling you how you could hurt your family and friends, but apparently it wasn't enough. You needed to see for yourself,' _Sam said.

I felt really bad now. I had been so angry at Sam for making me hurt Charlie, but he was only trying to protect me from the guilt he felt after accidently hurting Emily. _'I…I heard what you said. I know you were just trying to protect everyone. I even know that you're right. I just hate this and I guess I wanted to blame someone.'_

'_I get that. I understand this is hard, even harder for you because it's brought questions for you that you never even considered before. I get your anger, but you need to understand that the decisions I make are for the best. There is a reason behind all of them,' _Sam said firmly.

'_I'm sorry.'_

'_It's alright. Go phase,' _he said.

I immediately took off for the woods.


	9. Chapter 9

**Edward's POV**

I made it to Sam's later that night to see Bella. I decided to wait so that I could give Bella a chance to settle in. Also, I'd decided to hunt before going.

I walked up to Sam and Emily's cabin and looked in the sliding door. I could see Emily behind the counter preparing food.

Emily saw me after a minute and came over to let me in. She opened the sliding door and smiled at me. "Hi, Edward."

"Hello. Is Bella here?" I asked.

"Actually, no. She's with Sam and the boys. Sam wants her to learn how to phase on command. Why don't you come in and wait?" Emily asked.

"Um, are you sure?" I asked uncertainly. I wasn't sure it was such a good idea to be there when Sam wasn't there. I didn't think he'd appreciate me being alone with his fiancé. Sam didn't trust me. He was only allowing me on the reservation and his property because he didn't feel he had a choice. He still saw me as an enemy and a danger to his people. He wouldn't want me alone with Emily.

Emily smiled again. "Come in."

Reluctantly, I slipped inside and shut the door behind me.

"Have a seat," Emily said as she gestured to the table. She then went to what she was doing before I arrived.

I immediately went over and sat down.

"So how are you handling all of this?" Emily asked.

I chuckled slightly. "Isn't Bella the one you should be asking that. She's the one that turns into a wolf.'

"Sam will take care of Bella. If she needs a woman's ear, and with all these guys around she probably will, I'll be more than happy to be there for her, but Sam's the one she can best relate to about all this. This all affects you too though and as a fellow imprint, I can relate to you," Emily said.

"This whole imprinting thing confuses me. I mean, I know what it is. Sam explained it and I even saw it in his mind, but it's still weird to me. At this time yesterday, I was just Bella's boyfriend. She loved me very much, I know, but it was nowhere near where it is now. My brother, Jasper, is an empath and he says that Bella's feelings for me increased dramatically. Our relationship is changing too," I said. I'd seen the changes, like every time Bella pushed me behind her to protect me and how she lashed out at Rosalie at the thought of me being taken from her.

"How so?" Emily said. She was really curious. I read in her mind that she didn't meet Sam until he imprinted on her, so who he was to her now was all she knew. She was curious to know how a wolf's relationship with the woman he or she loved would change if they imprinted after falling in love with the person.

"Well, before, Bella was mostly passive and looked to me for things, like protection. That's changed. She gets angry at the slightest things. She tore into my sister yesterday," I said. Of course, that had made me proud. I was glad that she finally stood up to Rosalie after all the crap she's had to take from her. But it was further evidence that our relationship was changing. I wasn't sure how to deal with those changes

"And that bothers you?" Emily asked.

"That she tore into Rosalie? No, I actually quite enjoyed that. She more than deserved that. I can't say that Bella pushing me out of the way of danger doesn't bother me though. I feel like that is supposed to be my job. I know that may be old fashioned, but…"

"It's not old fashioned. It's called a male thing. No matter how we society evolves, men will always feel that it's their job to protect women. It does present you with a problem though because Bella does feel the need to protect you, just as Sam feels the need to protect me. It's an imprint thing. The anger I believe is a wolf thing. The whole Pack has short fuses. I think it just comes with it. That's why Sam wanted Bella to live here. He worried that her new temper would flair and she'd hurt someone. Hell, she apparently took a bite out of Paul today, though it was kind of his fault. He pushed her when she was already really angry," Emily said.

"Yes, I venture she didn't take having to leave Charlie very well," I said. I knew she didn't. I had been there when Bella told her father she was leaving. It hurt her a lot. I'd heard her begin to cry and then curse Sam for making her do it. I'd wanted to go to her then, but I knew she needed to be alone at that point.

"Yes, she took that very hard. She was quite angry with Sam when she first got here, but he managed to get her to calm down by sharing an experience with her," Emily said. She then thought back to a conversation she'd had with Sam where he told her about telling Bella about accidently hurting her.

Just then there was a knock at the door. We both turned around to see Billy Black and Harry Clearwater through the clear door.

Emily immediately went over and opened the door for him. "Hi, Billy, Harry."

Billy glared at me for a minute before softening his face and turning to Emily. "Hi, Emily. Is Sam around?"

"Afraid not. He's out helping Bella get used to phasing," Emily said.

"So you're alone with him?" Billy asked as he glared at me once more.

"It's alright, Billy. I invited Edward in. I figured he could use someone to talk to about this whole thing too and who better than someone who knows what it's like to be imprinted on," Emily said.

Billy continued to be glower at me. "I don't think Sam would like him being here while he's not here." All the while he was thinking that I shouldn't be around at all. He hated that I was on the reservation and specifically with Bella.

"He wouldn't," Harry said coldly.

"It's fine, guys. We were just talking. You're welcome to wait for Sam if you want,"Emily said.

"That's a given," Harry said while glaring at me. Neither him nor Billy trusted me alone with Emily.

"Um, I think I'll wait outside for Bella," I said before standing up and walking past them outside.

"I'll be right back," I heard Billy say before following me out to the porch.

I turned around just as he was closing the door. I knew that he had something to say to me.

"You don't belong here, Cullen. You don't belong on our land or with Bella. She deserves better than the likes of you," Billy said coldly.

"I do not dispute that point." I knew very well that Bella deserved better. That was why I was going to leave. But whether I deserved her or not, we were meant to be together and we would be.

"I hate that Bella imprinted on you. I love that girl. If I could stop the imprint, I would."

"I know that," I said. I than said something else. I wasn't sure if I should. I wasn't sure if I should let him know I knew, but I couldn't help myself. My love for Bella made me get involved. "Any father would."


	10. Chapter 10

**Billy's POV**

I stared at the bloodsucker in front of me in disbelief. I was more than shocked by his words. I was completely floored. How could he have possibly known that I was Bella's father? I didn't even know until last night. Well, not for sure anyway. I always knew there was a possibility, but I never knew for sure and I never tried to find out. So if I didn't know, how the hell could this bloodsucker have known?

"I'm a telepath. I can hear your thoughts," Cullen told me.

Again, I was shocked. I didn't know it was possible for a vampire to hear your thoughts. That was just what we needed. A telepathic bloodsucker on La Push. It explained why he decided to come outside though. He could hear how much we hated him just from our thoughts.

"I can hear your thoughts outside just as well as I can inside. I just didn't want to upset anyone any longer. Anyway, I was reading your thoughts last night during the meeting. They were very erratic though, so I didn't get it right away. I thought about it later though. I thought about your incoherent thoughts, plus the way you looked when Paul taunted Bella about the possibility of her mother being unfaithful," he said.

I tried to look impassive, but I know I failed miserably. I know the leech must have seen the guilty look on my face. I couldn't help showing it. I'd never forgiven myself for what I did to Charlie and my own wife. I'd betrayed everyone I loved with a one night stand with my best friend's wife.

When Charlie had found out what I'd done, he nearly killed me, especially when he realized that the paternity of his child was in question. After the punches stopped flying, we'd all agreed that there would be no DNA tests or doubts. Bella would be Charlie's, period.

And for a while, that was how it went. I never questioned Bella's paternity out loud. Hell, even in my head, I didn't have much doubt. Bella was fair skinned. I figured it probably meant that she was Charlie's. There were a couple of lingering doubts, but for the most part, I was sure she was Charlie's. Until last night. When I watched Bella tremble right in front of me, I knew what was happening. I knew she'd been about to phase. There were no more 'what if's' and there was no more ignoring the giant elephant in the room. Bella phasing meant she was Quileute. It meant she was mine.

"So Charlie knew then?" Cullen asked.

I glared at him. The little leech was reading my mind again. "Get out of my head! That's damn irritating!"

He smiled slightly. "My family agrees with you. I have no control over it. Believe me, there are times that I wished I did. Trust me, I wish I didn't know this. I do not want to have to decide what to do with the knowledge that Bella's father abandoned her."

I glared daggers at him. This little prick dared accuse me of abandoning Bella? If I could, I would fling him across the yard. "Who the hell do you think you are? I did not abandon Bella!"

"With all due respect, what would you call it? You knew there was a chance she was your daughter and you didn't do anything about it, all because of a friendship you'd already betrayed once. To hell with the daughter you might have created," Cullen said. His voice had taken such a cold change that the velvety sound it carried just a few moments ago was almost completely gone.

I wasn't about to succumb to the judgment of a bloodsucker. "You have no right to judge me. You know nothing of what happened. I loved that girl like she was my own!"

"She was your own. You realize that, right? Bella is your daughter. You let your best friend raise your child," he said to me.

I let his words sink in. It was the first time those words had been spoken out loud. I'd said them in my head, but I'd never heard them said out loud. Bella was my daughter. She was as much mine as Jacob, Rachel, and Rebecca.

I let that settle in my head for a minute and then I thought about what could've been. I thought about Bella growing up with me around her siblings and the rest of the tribe. What would her life have been like had that happened? She wouldn't have dated Cullen, that was for sure. I would've made sure to keep her away from him.

"I guess then I should be grateful that things turned out the way they did," Cullen said.

"She deserves better than you," I said for the second time. She deserved better than anyone really, but certainly better than a leech.

"So you're said and I've agreed. Bella deserves much better than me, and believe me, if I thought it was best, I'd leave. Hey, I was gonna do just that. That's why she phased. Even after the imprint, I was willing to do it if it would help her, but…"

"It wouldn't have. You would've killed her if you'd left," I said. Sam was right about that. If Bella was away from her imprint, it would eventually kill her. We were all stuck with this bloodsucker forever.

"It is no walk in the park for me either. Why would I wanna be around people who hate my very existence? But I'll do it for Bella. She is everything to me," he said.

"Are you going to tell Bella what you've found out?" I asked. I needed to be prepared if he planned to tell Bella that I was her father. For one, I would have to tell Jacob. I could only imagine how well that would go over. My son thought my relationship with his mother had been perfect. He would soon find out otherwise if this came out.

"I don't know. I should. She deserves to know and it would be a betrayal not to tell her. But she is already going through so much right now. It's only been a day since she found out she was a wolf. In that time, she's been forced to walk away from her father, blood or not, that's what he is, she's had to move in with people she barely knows, and she knows that one of her parents are not so. I'm afraid to add to that. So I guess the answer is that I don't know," Cullen explained.

"It's not your place to tell her anything," I said glaring.

"I agree. So take it out of my hands. You're here father, right? Well, one of them anyway. Tell her yourself so I don't have to make the decision. Believe me, it's better that way. I think she'll eventually forgive you if she hears it from you. I can't guarantee that if I'm the one to do it.

"Leave it alone! She'll be hurt by it," I said. Okay, I admit it, I was afraid of Bella's anger. Cullen said she'd probably forgive me, but I wasn't so sure. My self-righteousness aside, I knew I'd failed Bella by succumbing to Charlie and Renee's wishes and not finding out for sure. It didn't matter how much Bella loved Charlie. She would feel betrayed by me for not claiming her.

"You're right. She will be hurt, but you can't stop it. She already knows her paternity isn't what she thought it was. She won't stop until she finds out the rest. If she leans the truth from someone else but you, the pain and anger she'll feel will be ten times worse," the leech said.

I didn't say anything. Cullen was right, but I'd sooner jump off a bridge than I would admit that a cold one was right.

"Have it your way, but tell her. I'm going to go. I will come back when Bella and Sam return," he said before walked away.


	11. Chapter 11

**Bella's POV**

I woke up the next morning at around nine. I woke up sweating. Story of my life since becoming a wolf. It was ironic really. When I first moved to forks, I was unhappy because I hated the cold. Now I would never be cold again.

After taking the coldest shower I could, I dressed in a pair of shorts and a short sleeve shirt. Then I went to the kitchen where I found both Sam and Emily. They were both at the table eating.

"Morning, Bella. Did you sleep well?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, pretty good," I said. I had woken up a couple of times sweating, but other than that I was okay.

"You should get some food, Bella. Paul and Jared will be here soon and then there won't be anything left," Sam said with a slight smile.

I immediately grabbed a plate from the cabinet and headed for the stove. There were two big pans full with eggs, a big plate of bacon, and an equally large plate of sausage. Normally I'd say this much more food than was needed, even for five people, but the guys could really put food away, so could I for that matter.

Once I had my food, I joined Sam and Emily at the table and started digging in.

"So we're gonna do some more practice phasing a little later," Sam said.

I groaned. Sam was a freaking slave driver! I'd spent hours yesterday trying to learn how to phase on command, but it didn't work. Well, I did phase, but I had to get angry first. Sam didn't want me to do that. He wanted me to be able to phase without having to get angry.

Sam chuckled at me. "Yes, I know it sucks, but it's important. You need to be able to phase on a whim is necessary. Also, practicing will help you with control, which you desperately need."

"Yeah, yeah, I know my control's horrible," I said. I'd phased four times in less than a full day. I wasn't even sure it got any worse than that.

"It could be worse," a new voice said.

I turned to the sliding door to see that Jared and Paul had arrived.

"You could be like Paul here. He's much worse with control," Jared said.

Paul slapped him on the arm. "Shut up."

"Food's on the stove, boys," Emily said.

Paul and Jared immediately started for the stove, fighting each other to get there first.

"So when's the newbie getting patrol duty?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, that's a good question," I said. Sam had explained the whole patrol thing yesterday. We all took turns searching the reservation for possible vampires. Though I wasn't sure what he expected us to find. The only vampires here now were the Cullens.

"Tonight. You'll be going with someone else for the first couple of weeks. You'll go with Jared tonight," Sam said.

I nodded that I understood. I then instinctively turned to the sliding door and saw Edward there. I smiled and immediately went over to him and hugged him. "Hey."

"Hi," Edward said as he hugged me back.

"Great, _it's_ back," Paul said

I let go of Edward and glared at Paul. I was getting really tired of his comments. If he didn't back off, we were going to get into it, and I would do worse than just take a bite out of him.

"Paul," Sam said in a warning tone before looking at Edward. The two of them seemed to have a staring contest. Actually, Sam was probably saying something to him via telepathy.

Edward nodded after a moment. "I understand. I apologize."

Sam's only response was to grunt.

Edward looked at me. "Wanna go outside."

I nodded and followed him out of the house. We walked around back so we could have a bit more privacy. "What did Sam say to you? What were you apologizing for?"

"It was my fault. I knew better, but I did it anyway," Edward said.

"Did what?" I asked anxiously.

"Love, it's okay. Look, you know I was here last night, right?" Edward asked.

I nodded. Billy and Harry had told us Edward had shown up.

"Well, when I got here, Emily was here alone and she invited me inside. Sam isn't happy about that. He doesn't want me alone with Emily," Edward said.

I immediately stopped and turned to face him. "You would never hurt Emily! Sam has no right to…"

"He has every right, Bella. I am a vampire. It is in my nature to feed from humans. Sam knows that," Edward said.

"Yeah, but he also knows you don't," I argued. This was ridiculous. I was getting really sick of everyone treating Edward so terribly because of what he was.

"But I'm tempted and he knows that too. Human blood is like a drug to me. I know I shouldn't have it, but the temptation is always there and it always will be. That's why Sam doesn't want me alone with Emily. She is to Sam what I am to you. Think if I were to be alone with Paul," Edward said.

I hissed at the very idea of that. As it was I tried to keep Edward away from Paul because I knew that Paul wanted to hurt him. The thought of them being alone together made me start to shake.

Edward seemed to notice this. "Bella, it's okay. I didn't mean to upset you."

I forced myself to calm down by thinking of the happy times I had with Edward, like lying in bed with him or being at the meadow together. Thankfully it worked and I stopped shaking. "It's different. Paul is a danger to you."

"And to Sam, I'm a danger to Emily. I understand the way he feels and I will respect it by not being alone with the woman he loves. It's the least I can do after everything he has done. He has allowed me onto the reservation and even into his home. He has even made an attempt to use my name," Edward said with a smile.

I had to give him that. Sam had been very generous where Edward was concerned. He'd been even more considerate than Billy and Harry, two men I'd known almost my entire life. "Yeah, I guess so. I just don't like people treating you badly because of what you are. It isn't like you asked for this."

Edward suddenly frowned and turned slightly towards the house. "I have to go."

"You just got here," I said.

"Charlie's here," Edward said.

My eyes widened. "What?"

"At least he will be in a few seconds. He's come to check on you and make sure this place is suitable for you. He can't see me here, as our 'breakup' is supposed to the reason you left his house," Edward said.

I sighed. "Okay, but come back later."

"I will," Edward said. He then kissed me quickly on the lips and took off at vampire speed.

I immediately entered the house through the back and went back into the kitchen. Everyone was exactly where I left them. "My dad's here."

As if on cue, we all heard the sound of a car pull in.

Sam turned to Jared and Paul. "You two get lost. The last thing Chief Swan needs to see are a bunch of teenaged boys sitting around the house where his daughter is staying half naked."

They both nodded and ran towards the back.

Sam turned to me. "Make sure you stay calm."

I nodded and kept picturing Edward. He was my most calming thought.

Sam got up to open the door just as Charlie started walking towards it. He opened it and greeted my father. "Hello, Chief Swan."

"Sam," Charlie replied kind of coldly. He obviously blamed Sam for me moving here. He didn't know it, but he was actually right to. Sam had been the one to insist I come.

"Please come in," Sam said as he moved aside.

"Hey, Dad," I said as he came into the house.

"Bells. How you doing?" Charlie asked.

"I'm okay. Sam and Emily have been great hosts," I said.

"Well, I wanted to see that for myself and meet the people who convinced my daughter to move away from me," Charlie said as he glared between Emily and Sam.

Sam tensed at the look Emily was getting from Charlie. "Chief, if you wanna be angry at someone, be angry at me. I'm the one that convinced Bella to come stay with us. Emily thought she should stay in Forks and try to get through it herself."

Charlie focused his glare on just Sam and walked towards him. "Alright, fine. Who the hell do you think you are convincing my daughter to move away because of a failed teenaged relationship?"

To his credit, Sam didn't even flinch at the icy tone Charlie used while talking to him. Not that I expected him to. Sam had more than proved he was capable of holding firm and strong. "I am looking out for Bella. She was worried about facing Cullen around town after having the relationship end. I know what that is like. It can be damn painful."

"So you convinced her to move out of her home?" Charlie asked angrily.

"I gave her an alternative. She wanted time away from Forks. She was even considering moving to Florida. Would you rather have that?" Sam asked. I was sort of impressed with his ability to lie. He did it so well that I almost believed him.

"I would rather my daughter not live with virtual strangers!" Charlie growled.

"Dad, please,' I begged.

He ignored me and continued to glare coldly at Sam. "You know, Billy and Jacob Black were at my house yesterday. Jacob claims that you run some sort of gang here. My daughter is not going to be a part of some gang!"

"Dad, he doesn't run a gang. I don't know where Jacob would get an idea like that. Sam just looks out for the boys around town," I said.

Charlie turned to me. "Yeah, that's what Billy said," he said with a small amount of bitterness in his voice.

I frowned slightly. Were my dad and Billy fighting? Why would they be fighting? Unless my Billy tried to defend Sam about me living here and my dad didn't appreciate that. That was the only reason I could see for it. "Dad, there is nothing going on here except for Sam and Emily being good friends."

Charlie finally turned back to me. "Well, I guess I have to take your word for it. Like you said, you're over eighteen."

I cringed slightly. I hated using that against him, but I'd had no choice. He never would've let me go on his own.

"Is… Is there another reason besides the breakup for you to come to La Push?" Charlie asked.

"Like what?" I asked. He seemed like he had a specific reason in mind.

Charlie looked at me for a minute and then shook his head. "Never mind. Look, there's nothing I can do to stop you from living here, but if he is some kind of gang leader, I will stop him from dragging you into it. I'll be around the reservation often and I'll be watching," he said before turning around and walking out the door.


	12. Chapter 12

**Bella's POV**

It had been a few weeks since I first phased. I was right now approaching the Cullen house. I'd decided to spend some time with my second family. I seemed to be getting families left and right nowadays. The Cullens had been like family since I met them and now the Pack was starting to become that too. Well, most of them. I still couldn't stand Paul. He was always insulting me and Edward. It took everything in me not to literally rip him to shreds. But Sam and Jared were cool. I'd become very close to them. They were like brothers now, especially Sam. I looked to him like an older brother/authority figure.

Speaking of Sam, he didn't know I was visiting the Cullens. I didn't tell him because I knew he wouldn't have let it happen, not right now anyway. He would be worried that being around them would cause me to phase. Edward was different because my wolf didn't consider him a vampire, but the rest of them did stir something up inside me. My heart still loved them like family, but being around them did put me on edge and a part of me did feel like I should phase. I wasn't going to stop seeing the Cullens because of it though.

When I got to the front door, I knocked. The Cullens had told me I could come in as though it was my house, but I felt weird about that. It just felt more polite to knock.

The door was opened a second later by Alice. "Bella, why are you knocking? And what are you wearing," she asked as she looked at my shorts and tank top in disgust.

"Because it's polite," I said before walking past her into the house.

Alice closed the door behind me and led the way upstairs to the living room. "Obviously the dogs have completely destroyed your fashion sense."

I laughed as I made it over to the couch to sit down. "Alice, I go through clothes faster than you do, which is saying a lot. Every time I phase, they get ripped to shreds, so there's no point going all out for clothes. Besides, I get extremely hot, as you can probably tell from me being in shorts and a tank in October. It's just better for me to dress as light as possible. So are you the only one here?"

Alice sat next to me and shook her head. "Esme's in the kitchen cooking for you. I knew you were coming despite the fact that I can't see you anymore. Actually, that's how I knew you were coming."

"Great, I'm starving!" I'd just eaten at Sam's an hour ago, but that was an hour ago and I was hungry again.

"Carlisle's at the hospital and the others are all hunting," Alice said.

"Yeah, Edward said he would be hunting with Jasper and Emmett," I said. Edward wanted to spend some time with his brothers. He hadn't gotten the chance so much lately. When he wasn't at school and I wasn't patrolling, he was with me at Sam's. I felt bad about that. I knew how much Edward loved his family and because they couldn't be on the reservation and I couldn't be at here with them, Edward was spread very thin.

"I convinced Rosalie to hunt too. I figured it wouldn't be a good idea for her to be here while you are. We don't need you phasing. Even if it was incredibly awesome how you stood up to her last time," Alice said with a smile.

I laughed. "That surprised even me when I thought about it later that night. I wasn't a very confrontational person before. That seemed to change after I phased. Now I lose it pretty easily, especially when Edward's involved. When Rosalie said what she did about Edward leaving, I saw red. She was trying to keep me from my purpose in life."

"Is that really how it feels with Edward. Jazzy said that your love for Edward grew a lot, but he didn't go into it much," Alice said.

I pondered for a minute about how to explain what Edward was to me now. "You know, I'm not even sure I can explain what Edward means to me. I loved him before, but it was different. It was strong, but I didn't feel the physical connection to him like I do now. Now, it's like every part of my body is connected to him. Like there's an invisible string that attaches me to him. When I looked at him that first time after I phased, it was like the entire world disappeared. It was just him and me. Since then, my primary purpose in life has been about making sure he's safe and happy. I will take down anybody who tries to get in the way of that."

"Wow. That is strong, and it's kind of a flip flop from how things were before you phased. Back then, Edward was the one constantly worried about your safety. Does that seem weird to you?" Alice asked.

"No. Maybe it should, but it doesn't. Protecting Edward just seems natural to me," I told her. Like I said, it probably should feel weird that I was now the protector in the relationship, but it didn't. Protecting Edward was instinct. It was almost second nature.

Just then Esme came in with a plate of food. "Hello, Bella. It's good to see you. I made you some food. Edward said you like to eat a lot now, so I made sure there was plenty."

I smiled and took the plate of food from her. I almost drooled at the sight of it. There were two large pieces of grilled chicken, a big portion of flavored rice, and a side of green beans. "Thanks, Esme."

"I'll let you girls keep talking. Make sure to come see me before you go," Esme said.

"I definitely will," I promised. I watched her leave and then started digging into the food. I was practically inhaling it I was eating so fast.

"Oh my God, Bella, slow down. You're gonna make yourself sick," Alice said worriedly.

"That's not likely. This is nothing. Usually I have to share the food with three guys who have just as big an appetite as me. I have to eat much quicker. If I don't, it'll be gone," I said as I continued to eat.

"Tell me about them. What are the dogs like?" Alice asked.

"Okay, first of all, I'm a 'dog' too," I said with a pointed look. I didn't like it when the guys called the Cullens leeches and I didn't like Alice now calling my brothers, as that's what they were to me now, dogs.

"Right, sorry. They are our enemies though, so it's hard," Alice said.

"I know. Sam says the same. He actually does try with Edward. He mostly uses his name now, Jared too. Sam and Jared are really great. Sam's more than just the alpha of our pack. He's like our big brother. He's really been there for me. I haven't made it easy on him, especially the first couple of days," I said as I thought about how angry I initially was at Sam for making me move in with him. "Jared's a good guy too. He's really laid back and he's easy to get along with. Although, that's not to say he won't step up if he needs to. I get the feeling that if something threatened one of us or someone else he loved, he'd prove just as vicious as the rest of us," I explained.

"What about the other one. You said there were three other members besides you," Alice reminded me.

"Yeah, there's Paul. Paul's an asshole," I said flatly.

"I see," Alice said with an amused tone.

"Paul doesn't like that I'm with Edward and I don't like him constantly insulting and threatening the love of my life. So needless to say, we don't have the best relationship."

"So have you figured out why you phased yet?" Alice inquired.

I stiffened a bit. The subject was a very sensitive one for me. "No. I'm not sure how to go about finding out. I can't ask Charlie right now because if I'm with him and he tells me, I don't think I'll be able to keep from phasing. Also, there's a good chance he doesn't know. And I don't wanna ask Renee because I'm almost positive she'll lie. So I don't know what to do. It's just a really difficult situation."

"You'll figure it out, Bella. And no matter what happens, we'll all be here for you," Alice told me.

Before I got the chance to respond, my cellphone went off. I looked at it and saw that I had a text from Jared that said, 'Come back to the rez. Sam knows where you are and he's not happy.' "Ugh! I gotta go. Sam figured out I came here."

"He didn't know you were here?" Alice asked.

I gave her a look. "I didn't exactly advertise it, Alice. I better go and get this hour long lecture over with."

"Okay, but come back soon," Alice said.

I will," I said before getting up and walking towards the stairs. I needed to say goodbye to Esme and then go deal with my likely pissed off Alpha.


	13. Chapter 13

**Bella's POV**

I didn't go straight back to Sam's after leaving the Cullen's. I went to First Beach first. I wasn't in a real big hurry to be lectured by Sam and I looked being by the water. It was calming to me. The only thing more calming was being with Edward.

"Bella."

I turned to see Jacob Black running my way with two other boys following. One of them had hair as long as Jacob's while other had shorter hair. Booth had dark skin, indicating they were from the reservation. "HI, Jacob."

"Hey. I heard you were living on the reservation," Jacob said.

"Yeah, I know you heard. You've been telling people that I've joined a gang," I said with a bit of irritation in my voice. I wasn't thrilled with him telling Charlie that Sam was a gang leader. I had enough problems with my father without having him think I was in a gang.

"Hey, Charlie was asking my dad about Sam," Jacob said defensively.

"So you felt the need to chime in with the ridiculous notion that I'd joined a gang?" I asked.

"It's not ridiculous. I swear, Sam and his group are practically a gang, and now you've joined them. Why would you do that?" Jacob asked.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Sam is a friend. He's been there for me a lot," I told Jacob. I wasn't going to let Jacob disrespect a man who was the closest thing to an older brother I had. Well there were the Cullen boys, but it was different. Jasper and Emmett were more like friends. Sam acted like a protector. The kind of brother that got on your nerves yet you were grateful for at the same time.

"You mean taking advantage while you were trying to get over your boyfriend," he said.

"You're wrong," I said. I should really just walk away now. I should've as soon as he showed up. Sam had warned me that I needed to stay away from those not in the pack. But something wouldn't let me walk away from Jacob. I just couldn't treat him with a cold shoulder. Maybe it was the wolf thing. I did know that Jake would be one of us one day, as his great grandfather was a part of the last pack. Maybe my wolf saw him as one of us already.

One of the two boys next to Jake pulled us out of our argument. "Hey, Jake, you gonna introduce us?"

Jake turned to his friends. "These are Embry and Quil. Guys, this is Bella."

"It's nice to meet you both," I said as I shook Quil's outstretched hand. I then went to shake Embry's, but as soon as my hand touched his, I felt something I didn't expect. His body temperature was slightly elevated. It wasn't that much higher and it wouldn't even be noticeable if someone outside the pack was touching him, but it was to me.

I looked at the boy in front of me. He was quite tall and he looked a bit muscular. I couldn't be sure whether or not this was unusual for him because I had just met him, but the possibility of him phasing seemed likely with what I did know.

"Uh, are you okay?" Embry asked.

I immediately let go of his hand. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"Bella!" I heard Sam's angry voice call out.

I turned around and saw Sam by the trees several feet away. I turned back to Jacob and his friends. "I have to go."

"Bella, don't. You don't have to stay with Sam. If you don't wanna go back to Charlie's, I'm sure my dad would let you stay with us for a little while. We've got a spare room," Jacob said.

"I have to go," I said again before walked away and going over to Sam. I turned back just as I got to Sam to see the three boys walking away. "I think he's gonna phase, Sam."

"Jacob? Yes, I know. I told you, he's a descendent from the last tribe," Sam said.

"No, not him," I said.

"Quil then? That's not surprising either. He still seems like he's got a while to go though. He's not showing signs yet. Now you and I have to talk," Sam said sternly.

"No, the other boy. Embry," I said as I turned back to him.

Sam frowned. "Embry? Embry Call? That's impossible. He's not Quileute. His mother moved here from another reservation when she got pregnant."

"And I'm not supposed to have any Native American blood in me whatsoever. I'm not supposed to be Quileute, yet I turn into giant wolf whenever I chose, or whenever my anger gets the best of me. Look, Embry' skin is slightly warmer than it should be and he's kind of tall. I could be wrong, but instincts are telling me he'll phase," I said.

Sam looked at me for a moment and then nodded. "Alright, we'll keep an eye out for him. I think you're reading too much into it, but we'll watch him. In the meantime, you and I need to have a conversation."

"What conversation?" I asked acting innocent.

Sam glared at me. "Don't play dumb, Bella. You know damn well what I'm talking about. You were over at the Cullens' place today. What did I say about staying away from people outside the Pack?"

"The Cullens aren't exactly normal people. They're vampires." Actually, that probably wasn't the best thing to say. It certainly wasn't going to make Sam feel better it.

And given the incredulous look on Sam's face, it didn't. "You did not just use that as the reason to be allowed to go over there because there's a problem if you're already out of credible arguments."

"They're not a danger to me, Sam. They'd never hurt me. Hell, I don't even think they could, at least not like they could've before. I'm not exactly helpless," I said.

"First of all, there's only one of you there, so yes they could, especially if I don't know you're there. Second, you know that's not my only concern. It's one of my top concerns, but not my only one. Say you're right and they don't hurt you. Say instead, you were to get angry, kind of like you did at the blond when she threatened to take your imprint away. You could phase and attack," Sam sad.

"The Cullens will be happy to know you care so much," I said. As you can tell, I've gotten a bit more sarcastic during my time with the pack.

"Cut the crap! I'm not amused! If you were to phase and attack one of the Cullens, the treaty would be broken. I don't want a war with the Cullens," Sam said.

"That won't happen," I assured him.

"No, it won't," Sam said firmly.

I started to get angry. I knew where this was going. He was going to pull Alpha soon. "They're my family too, Sam. I have the right to see them!"

"Not right now you don't. You still phase often when you're angry. In fact I can see your hands shaking right now. Until I'm sure you have that under control, you are going to stay away from the Cullen house! Is that clear?" Sam asked in his strong, alpha voice.

I glared daggers at him. I wanted to tell him where he could stick it, but I couldn't refuse him. "Yes."


	14. Chapter 14

**Jacob's POV**

I was in a horrible mood. The day started off alright. It was typical Saturday. I worked on my car and then I hung out with Embry and Quil. We went down to First Beach. That's when the day took a turn for the worse. We ran into Bella down there. That part wasn't bad. I liked Bella. We were good friends when we were kids and I'd had hopes that we would be again. When my dad first told me she was moving to La Push, I was happy. Then I found out she was staying with Sam.

Sam Uley. What was it about that guy. He had the whole tribe wrapped around his finger, including my dad. They all saw him as this model citizen who was protecting the streets of La Push. To me he was just a weirdo with his own little gang. They even had a tattoo for initiation. Embry and Quil agreed with my assessment. It was just weird how he, Jared, and Paul isolated themselves from the rest of the reservation. And now Bella had joined them. Whenever I saw Bella around the rez, she was always with one of them. Today was actually the first time I saw her by herself. Of course that didn't last. Sam came and she obediently went over to him.

Damn Sam made me so mad. It wasn't just Bella and the weirdness that was their group either. Sam came over occasionally and bugged me too, asking how I was feeling. It was really creepy. It was like he was grooming me to join his gang. Well, that was never going to happen. I didn't care how much my dad praised him. I was not joining Sam's weird club.

It seemed my day was destined to get worse because when I got home, Charlie's cruiser was out front. That wasn't so bad by itself. Charlie was a frequent visitor to our house and I liked him. He was like an uncle almost. But this time I could hear him and my dad screaming at each other inside.

"Why do you keep acting like this is my fault?! I didn't ask her to move there!" my dad was yelling.

"I don't know, Billy. Maybe because I see _my _daughter pulling away from me and more towards you for no apparent reason!" Charlie yelled back. He called Bella his like it wasn't a known fact, like he was staking a claim to her or something. It was very weird.

"There's no need for you to proclaim Bella as yours. I know that. And she's not coming towards me! She moved in with Sam because of Cullen!" Dad yelled back.

"I'm supposed to believe that the only reason she moved out of Forks is because of a high school crush? No, I don't think so. Something else is going on here!" Charlie continued to yell.

I had to agree with Charlie about why Bella moved here. It wasn't just because of her boyfriend. Sam had done something to her. He'd done something to get her to join his gang. But no matter what the reason, it had nothing to do with my father. Sam was who Charlie should be screaming at, not my dad.

"And you think it's because of me? I don't know how you can think that. It's not like she's living here!" Dad yelled.

"She's living on your land!" Charlie continued to scream.

I started running to the house. I'd had enough. I liked Charlie, but I was not going to listen to him scream at my dad like this.

"I don't know what you want me to say! There is no conspiracy here, Charlie! For eighteen years we…" My dad stopped talking when I made it to the door and he saw me. "Jake."

"What the hell's going on?" I asked.

"It's nothing, son. Do me a favor and clear out for a little while. Go hang out with your friends," my dad told me. Apparently he and Charlie wanted to continue their screaming match.

"No way," I said before stalking over to Charlie and getting right in his face. "Who the hell do you think you are?! How dare you come into our house and start screaming at my dad?!"

"Jacob, I said it's fine," Dad said.

"No, it's not. He doesn't get to blame you for this," I told him before turning his attention back to Charlie. "You wanna scream at someone? Go find Weirdo Sam or that Cullen guy for breaking Bella's heart. It's not my dad's fault!"

"Jacob, I realize you're trying to look out for your dad, but you don't know what's going on here," Charlie said to me. His demeanor had changed considerable since I walked in. He was much calmer, though he did still seem angry.

"Then tell me. What gives you the right to blame my dad for Bella leaving you?" I asked heatedly.

"It's nothing, Jacob. Now please take a walk!" my dad said in a tone that left no room for argument.

I glared at my father for a minute. "Fine. It's clear that I don't get to be privy to all your secrets. Your son is obviously not worthy enough to know what's going on," I said before heading out.

"Jake," my dad called after me.

I ignored him and continued walking. But damn it, I wasn't going for a walk and I wasn't going to find Embry or Quil like my dad had suggested. I was going to Sam's.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

I knew where Sam lived from my dad's address book. Thankfully he didn't live far from us. It only took about twenty minutes for me to walk there. When I got there, I saw Paul and Jared standing outside by the porch. They were both dressed in nothing but shorts. It was ridiculous since it was October, but not surprising. They always went around like this. It was just another weird thing about their gang.

With determination, I walked towards the two other boys. I was going to see Bella no matter what I had to do. I was going to see her and get her to tell me what was going on.

As I approached, Jared and Paul stood up straight and blocked the entrance of the porch. "Can we help you, Black?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, you can move," I said before attempting to push past them. Neither of them even budged. It was like their bodies were made of steel. I swear they had to be taking steroids or something. "I said get out of the way."

"Go home, Black. You don't belong here," Paul said with a glare.

"Trust me, I don't wanna be here. I want no part of you or your gang. I just wanna see Bella," I said.

"Yeah, well, she doesn't wanna see you," Paul snarled back.

Just then Sam came out of the house. "What's going on out here?"

I glared at him. "I wanna see, Bella, now!"

"Paul, Jared, go inside," Sam ordered.

Like obedient little minions, Jared and Paul went inside and left Sam and me alone.

"Where's Bella?" I demanded to know.

"She's not available right now. I can give her a message if you'd like," Sam said politely.

"Yeah, like I'd trust you. Just let me see her," I said as I tried to get past him.

Sam stopped me with his arm, refusing to let me pass.

"Get out of my way! I wanna talk to Bella. You don't dictate who she sees!" I yelled at him.

"Jacob, you need to go home. I'm guessing your dad doesn't know you're here. I don't wanna have to call him," Sam said.

"Oh, what you can't handle me yourself, Uley. What is it with you, man? What is with your need to control everyone. Hell, you've even converted outsiders into your little gang. What is your endgame?" I asked angrily.

"Go home, son. You'll understand one day," Sam said.

"Like hell! The only thing I understand is that whatever is going has my dad and Bella's at each other's throats for some reason," I said. That was my main reason for being there. I worried about Bella, but I'd come because of the situation with our fathers. They were hiding something big and I figured it had something to do with Sam converting Bella.

Sam frowned slightly at the revelation. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I came home to find them screaming at each other. Charlie blames my dad for Bella living here. But we both know it's your fault!"

Sam looked thoughtful for a few minutes, but he quickly covered it up. "I don't know what to tell you, Jacob. I don't know what's going on between your father and Chief Swan, but it has nothing to do with me or even really Bella. If you're worried about it, you should talk to him about it. Right now Bella has enough on his plate. Just leave her alone for right now."

"Screw you, Sam," I said angrily before walking away. I didn't want to, but it was clear to me that he wasn't going to let me see Bella. I was going to have to figure out what was going on by myself. And make no mistake, I would.


	15. Chapter 15

**Edward's POV **

As soon as I got back from hunting with Emmett and Jasper, I showered and got ready to leave for the reservation. It had been two long days since I saw my Bella and I couldn't wait. I would have to wait a while to be alone with her though because there was going to be a bonfire with the Pack and the council members that we had to attend.

I wasn't exactly looking forward to the meeting. I didn't feel like I should be there. Everyone there hated my guts and they wanted no part of me at that meeting. To them I was like a soldier from the opposite side of a war infiltrating their ranks. Actually, Jasper had made that comparison to me and he was right. It was uncomfortable for all of us. But Sam said that as an imprint I was part of them now, so not only was I entitled to be there, I was expected to be there.

Still, this meeting was another chance for me to see Bella and that was enough to get me to go. I still saw Bella often, but it was a little less though since she became a wolf. I did not get to watch her sleep all night like I used to because she was often patrolling the area for vampires. That was very difficult for me. I was not used to sitting on the side lines while the woman I loved went looking for danger. It felt wrong to me. I was supposed to protect Bella, yet, being the protector was now apparently her job. It was not easy for me to accept that.

This meeting would also give me a chance to speak with Billy again. It had been about a month since my last conversation with Bella's biological father. It had been about a month since I confronted him about that fact. I had hoped he would've told Bella by now, but he hadn't and it didn't look like he would. That put me in a very difficult position. I felt Billy was right when he said that it was not my place to tell, Bella, but it was certainly not right for me to know about it and say nothing to the woman I loved. It was times like this where I felt like my gift was really a curse.

I'd considered briefly talking with Sam about Billy. Sam had come to care about Bella very much, like a younger sister, and he'd probably know the right way to handle it. Unfortunately, Sam wouldn't be a good idea to tell because as soon as he and Bella were phased together, she would know. She would hear it in his thoughts just as I heard it in Billy's. I could only tell Sam if I was ready to tell Bella, and that defeated the purpose of telling Sam.

Pulling myself from my thoughts, I continued to get ready. I put on a black tee-shirt and then a light blue button down shirt that I left half open. Then I headed down the first half the stairs to the living room where the family was.

"You heading to the reservation now, son?" Carlisle asked.

Emmett laughed at my expense. "Of course he is. That's where he spends all his free time."

I rolled my eyes. "For your information, this visit is not… recreational. There's a bonfire tonight and I'm expected to attend."

"Mutts and fire. Yes, that's a good combination for our kind," Rosalie said sarcastically.

"I have asked you to stop referring to Bella in that way," I practically growled at my sister.

"What goes on at these things?" Emmett asked curiously.

"I'm not allowed to say. They're tribe secrets," I told him. I actually didn't know what went on at a typical bonfire yet, but Sam had warned me not too long ago that I was not to discuss anything that was discussed with anyone, especially my family.

"Well, you can tell us how it feels to be a part of it. To be able to go where we were never allowed before. It's gotta be nice," Emmett said. He wished to be able to go simply for the fact that he wasn't allowed. It was like forbidden fruit.

I chuckled a little. "It's not all that exciting. It's not like they have anything that Forks doesn't. Although, I don't really go around the reservation much. I mostly stay with Bella at Sam's. We can't exactly be seen around the reservation, as Charlie is a frequent visitor and he believes we've broken up. Anyway, I should go. I do not want to be late."

"Of course. Give Bella our best," Carlisle said.

I nodded and proceeded down the second flight of stairs.

Xxxxxxxxxx

I made it to Sam's to find the Pack aside from Bella and the elders outside by the fire. Jared was putting a log on the fire when he saw me. "Oh, hey, Edward."

"Hello, Jared. Hi, Sam," I greeted. They were the only ones who didn't glare at me every time I showed up, so they were the only ones I felt obligated to greet. That wasn't to say that they suddenly liked me, but they were nicer than they had to be. "Where's Bella?"

"She decided to give Emily a hand. They'll be out in a minute. In fact, I'm gonna go see if I can help carry anything out," Sam said before looking at Paul and Jared. "You two can come as well."

"I'm okay," Paul said.

"I don't recall it being a question. Emily's not our maid. You can help carry the food out. Let's go!" Sam ordered.

I was grateful they left so that I could speak to Billy. I approached him and the other two elders who were all seated next to each other. "May I speak with Billy alone?"

"No," Harry said simply.

"Whatever you have to say, say it with us all here," Old Quil said.

"That's fine with me if it's fine with Billy," I said. I really didn't care if they heard. I'd asked to speak alone because I knew Billy would prefer his friends not know about Bella.

"Give us a few minutes," Billy said to the others.

"Billy…"

"It's alright, Harry. Go say hello to Bella and Emily and see if you can't also help them," Billy said.

Both men stood up and went towards the house.

I went over and took Harry Clearwater's vacated seat. I then spoke quietly so that what I sad wouldn't be picked up by the Pack members, all of whom had excellent hearing. "You are putting me in a terrible position. You still have not told Bella the truth."

'_Stay out of it, Bloodsucker! Do not get involved!' _Billy thought to me. He seemed to be worried about us being overheard as well.

"I not see that as a possibility. I know this and it is a betrayal for me not to inform Bella. What you are asking of me isn't fair," I whispered to him.

'_Do not talk to me about fair! It isn't fair that my daughter is stuck with you for the rest of her life! And because of what you are, she'll never stop phasing, so that will be an eternity!' _Billy yelled in his thoughts.

I told a deep, unnecessary breath. "Well, if we are going to continue to discuss fair, I feel I must say that I don't think it's fair for you to call her that. You gave that right to Charlie years ago. It takes much more than DNA to be called someone's parent. But we are getting off subject. I cannot continue to keep this from Bella. I did it thus far only because I worried about how she would handle it after everything she's been through. I did not want to overwhelm her. I am coming to the conclusion though that she will be overwhelmed no matter when she hears it. So if you won't tell her, I will."

Billy glared at me for a minute before looking away. Then he spoke out loud for the first time since the conversation started. "Give me until Jake phases. They'll both be very upset, but at least then they'll have each other to turn to."

Before I had the chance to agree or not, the others came out with several plates of food. I immediately got up to go help Bella. I took the plate of burgers she was carrying. "I've got it, Love."

Bella stole a burger off of the plate and smiled. "Thank you."

I smiled back and others over to a big table that was set up a few feet away from the fire. I put the plate down on it.

Jared, Paul, and Bella immediately started to dig in.

"Alright, nope! Everyone with regular sized stomachs eat first," Sam said.

"Shouldn't we get to eat first, Sam? We do need to more than anyone else," Paul said.

"Well, hell must have frozen over because I agree with Paul," Bella said.

Jared laughed. "Now you gotta let us go first."

"Nope, sit your asses down," Sam ordered.

They all groaned and sat down while Emily and the elders went to grab food.

I went over and joined Bella. "So how was your weekend."

"Well, I went to see Alice and Esme and then Sam had a hissy fit," Bella said with irritation in her voice.

"You know he can hear you, Love." And he had heard. Sam had looked over as soon as Bella said what she did.

"What's your point?" Bella asked. She didn't seem to care if Sam heard.

I chuckled. "No point."

"Okay, now the bottomless pits can eat," Emily said as she came over with her food and sat down.

Bella and the others immediately got up and started racing each other to the food table. By the time they all had their food, the table was completely empty.

Everyone came back over and sat down in the circle. My focus soon turned to Sam who was glancing over at Billy. He recalled a conversation he'd had a couple of days before with Jacob Black about Billy and Charlie fighting. Charlie apparently blamed Billy for Bella moving away. Sam wondered if it was because Billy was Bella's father.

Sam shook the thought off a second later. _'No, it can't be. Billy would never do something like that. He's not Joshua. There's another explanation for the fighting. Maybe it's because Billy defended me for getting Bella to live with me or something.' _Joshua was apparently Sam's father and he'd left when Sam was a young child. It seemed to still hurt Sam, but more than that it made him angry. From his thoughts, I understood that Sam had no use for deadbeats.

I could only imagine Sam's reaction when he found out Billy was Bella's father and he had essentially walked out of her life. He wasn't going to respond well. He considered Bella to be family, the rest of the pack too, but he had a particular soft spot for Bella because he somewhat understood her situation. I saw a lot of anger coming from him when the truth came out.

Billy's voice pulled both of us out of our thoughts. "Alright, let's get started."

I put my arm around Bella as we all gave Billy our attention.


	16. Chapter 16

**Bella's POV**

I was at sitting in the cafeteria at La Push High with Jared, his imprint, Kim, and Paul. We were eating lunch. Well, Jared , Kim, and I were still eating. Paul had already inhaled his and was looking towards Jared's tray.

"You gonna eat that, man?" Paul asked as he pointed towards Jared's last piece of fried chicken.

"Yes, dumbass. Hands off," Jared said before picking up said piece of chicken.

Paul then looked towards my tray.

"You will lose an arm," I warned him. A few months ago, I probably would've given it to him, as I wasn't that big of an eater and I'd probably be full by now, but these days, food was a very treasured thing and I gave it up to no one, let alone Paul Lahote. Although, Paul had gotten better, mostly because of Sam. We'd gotten into a huge fight a couple of weeks ago and Sam had finally had enough. He told us that the animosity had to stop on both our parts. To reinforce it, he was making us patrol together every day for the next the rest of the month.

Jared chuckled. "Dude, we've got three hours left. Then we head back to Sam's and Emily will have some food waiting."

"I don't think I can wait three hours," Paul said.

Just then I noticed Jacob, Embry, and Quil sitting across the cafeteria. Embry was continuing to grow. For that matter, Jake had started to as well, though not to the extend Embry had. Jake probably had a few months left. Embry had about a month at the most. It was about right if I did the math. It had been a month since I first started noticing the signs in Embry. Phasing was usually a gradual thing. Although, for me it had happened all of a sudden. There were no signs at all. Sam attributed that to being around vampires so constantly. He believed it caused the change to occur spontaneously. Though why it happened that moment and not before was a mystery. It probably had something to do with how upset I had been over Edward attempting to leave me.

I was pulled from my thoughts when I saw a hand being waved in front of my face. I turned and saw Jared. "What?"

"I was about to ask you that. You spaced out for a minute," Jared said.

"Oh, I was just watching them," I said as I nodded over to the three boys I'd been looking at.

"Still thinking Embry's gonna phase, huh?" Jared asked.

"How can I not? He shot up," I said.

"It's not all that uncommon. It's probably puberty. Getting big and muscular might be signs of the wolf gene, but they're also signs of becoming men," Paul said.

"His body temperature was warmer than it should've been when I touched him. By itself, that might just be a fever, but combined with his growth spurt, it's the wolf. He's going to phase," I said. I was almost a hundred percent positive that Embry would phase. The signs were all there and got more obvious each day. It was going to happen.

"Let's talk about this later. I don't think we wanna be overheard," Jared said.

"Yeah, you're right. Lunch is pretty much over anyway. We should get to class," I said as I stood. The others followed and we brought our trays back before heading to our respective classes.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

We all made it back to Sam's pretty quickly after school ended. We'd spoken a little bit more about Embry and decided we should discuss it with Sam. When we got there, Sam, Emily, and Edward were there waiting. I smiled and went to Edward. "Hey. I didn't know you'd be here waiting."

"I decided to surprise you," Edward said with a smile of his own.

"I'm glad you did," I said before kissing him gently on the lips.

"Sam, we have to have a pack meeting. It's not life and death, but it still needs to be addressed," Paul said.

"Yeah, okay. Bella and Jared, come back to reality. No making out during a Pack meeting," Sam said. Apparently Jared and Kim had started too.

I stopped kissing Edward and looked at him. "You do it all the time."

"I'm Alpha and it's my house," Sam said with a good natured smirk.

I rolled my eyes and sat down. "You sound like a parent. 'My house, my rules,'" I imitated.

"Sometimes I feel like one with the way you pups act," Sam ribbed back as he, Paul and Jared sat down.

Emily leaned over the counter and Edward stood behind me since there were no more chairs. Kim sat on Jared's lap.

"Good, enough of the lovey dovey crap," Paul said.

"Hey, you won't feel that way when you imprint," Jared said.

"Uh, uh, not gonna happen. God help me if I imprint," Paul said.

"No, no, Paul. God help the person you imprint on," I said half-jokingly.

Apparently Paul didn't see any part of it as a joke because he glared daggers at me. "Shut up, Leech lover."

And we were back to how we were before Sam forced us to try to get alone. "You shut up, Asshole!"

"Hey!" Sam's voice boomed, forcing both of us to give him our attention. "What did I say about this? I told you I wasn't putting up with either of your crap anymore! You will stop this now! Am I clear?!"

We both nodded.

"Good. Now tell me what's going on," Sam ordered.

"We need to talk about Embry next. It's going to happen, Sam. He's going to phase soon," I said.

Sam sighed. "Embry is not Quileute. His mother is from…"

"Yes, I know, he's from another tribe, but I again feel the need to point out that I wasn't supposed to phase either," I told him.

"She has a point, Sam. Embry is growing rapidly. It could be puberty, but with the warmer body temperature that Bella felt, probably not. He's phasing. Jacob will probably be right behind him," Jared said.

Sam didn't speak for a bit. He seemed to be thinking to himself. The more he did, the more angry he seemed to become. He even began to shake with anger.

"Sam, I think you should go outside," I told him carefully before standing up and placing myself in front of Edward. I didn't want it to seem like I was telling him what to do, but if he was going to phase, he should leave so that no one got hurt. In particular, I felt the need to protect Edward.

Sam got up after a minute and bolted for the door.

"I don't think I've ever seen him that angry. He's that opposed to Embry joining the Pack?" I asked surprised. I'd known Sam for a couple of months now and I just didn't see him as the type to be picky about who was worthy to be let in.

"No, that's not it, Love," Edward said.

"He's not angry at Embry, Bella. He's angry _for_ him," Emily added.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"You know about Sam's father, right?" Jared asked.

"I know he took off on him," I said. I'd seen that in Sam's thoughts once or twice while we were phased. He didn't much be seen about it though.

"It's a big sore spot for Sam. It makes him really angry to think about his dad or anyone else leaving their kids. We all already knew that Embry didn't have his father in his life, but my guess is that it really gets to Sam to know that one of his own tribe left Embry without a dad," Jared explained.

"He has similar thoughts about you, Bella. He's not quite as angry because he doesn't know what happened, but the thought of someone leaving you are there and it really angers him," Edward said.

I was blown away. I had no idea Sam felt so strongly. Sam was pretty good at controlling what thoughts he sent our way. He'd never shown any anger over my mysterious parentage. I felt kind of touched by it. It was nice to know he cared so much that he was angry on my behalf. "Wow. I had no idea. Should one of us go after him?"

"No, let him be. He'll come back when he's ready," Emily said.

"Why don't we go for a walk?" Edward asked me.

"We can't be seen," I reminded him.

"With both of our enhanced senses, we should be able to avoid it," he said.

I nodded after a minute and led the way out.


	17. Chapter 17

**Sam's POV**

I sat outside on the porch of my house. I'd come out to be alone. Well, it wasn't really that I wanted to be alone. I just didn't want anyone else to have to deal with my sour mood. I'd been snappy with everyone since I learned Embry Call would definitely phase which was nearly three weeks ago. Everyone got subjected to a bit of my rage.

It wasn't that I had an aversion to Embry joining the Pack. The only real problem I had with it was that I wished he didn't have to take on the burden. I wished that for everyone. It wasn't fair how we all had to abandon our lives and our friends. But that wasn't what was responsible for my rage. I was mad because of what Embry phasing meant. I always knew that Embry didn't have a father in his life, but now I knew that Embry's father was a member of my tribe. He was one of us and that infuriated me, just as it did to know that Bella's parent/parents had done the same.

Alright, so I didn't know for sure what the situation with Bella was. Maybe her parents gave her up for adoption because they couldn't take care of her, and if that was the case, they shouldn't be condemned, but there was a very good chance that her situation was closer to Embry's and my own and that made me angry.

Actually, Embry's situation was just what put me over the top. Bella's made me more angry though. I didn't know Embry, but I did Bella. She lived in my house and she had been a part of the Pack for months now. I'd come to love her like a sister and someone abandoning her like that pissed me off.

I actually considered the possibility that Bella might be my sister. My father was a complete deadbeat. He had no problem leaving me and I doubt he would've had a problem leaving another child. I'd even spoken about it briefly with Billy, but Billy had been pretty sure that Joshua wasn't Bella's real father. He'd said that by then the man was already gone.

Billy I had also considered for like a second because of something his son, Jacob said. But Billy would never do that. He would never abandon a child like that. So I still didn't know who Bella's parents were and neither did she. Same went for Embry. I did wonder occasionally if Embry's father was Bella's as well.

Suddenly I heard the hushed voices of Bella and Jared inside.

"Okay, someone has to do something, bring him out of this. He's been snapping at people left and right," Jared said.

"Yeah, he nearly took Paul's head off yesterday, and for once, Paul didn't even really do anything," Bella said.

I cringed at the memory. I'd been in a really bad move then. I'd just left Embry's after watching all night to see if he'd phase. I came home and lashed out at Paul for taking the last sausage link. It was really stupid and I regretted it. This whole thing was just really making me mad. The combination with Bella and Embry was getting to me.

"Okay, one of us should just talk to him," Bella said.

"Yeah, you're right," Jared said.

I waited to see which one of them would come out. Several moments went by and no one came out. Finally, Bella spoke again. "Well?"

"Me? I'm not doing it. You go," Jared said.

"Your Beta, not to mention his best friend. You should be the one to talk to him," Bella argued.

I rolled my eyes at them. Did these two seriously not realize that I could hear every word they were saying? On the plus side, my mood had gone up a bit. Just listening to these two was entertaining.

"His anger has to do in part with you and your parentage. You should go," Jared said.

I shook my head and smiled in amusement. I debated on how long I should let this go on for. Should I take pity on them or continue to use them as a source of entertainment?

I soon heard footsteps come towards me, so I didn't have time to decide whether or not to let it continue.

The door opened and Bella's voice rang out. "Um, hey, Sam."

I turned and smirked at her. "So you lost the argument, huh?"

"What?" Bella asked with a frown.

I continued to smirk. "My hearing is just as good as yours, Bella. It was actually fun to listen to the two of you fight about who was going to speak to me."

Bella turned bright red with embarrassment when she realized her private conversation with Jared wasn't so private. "I guess we forget the wolf super senses sometimes."

I nodded and moved over for her to sit down.

She sat. "Are you okay, Sam?"

I sighed. "I know it hasn't been easy to be around these last few weeks. I think Emily's about a second away with beating me over the head with something."

"She might have mentioned something like that," Bella joked. "Look, we're all worried about you, Sam. I mean, I've never seen you like this before. You're usually so controlled."

"That's because I let it build when I'm angry. I keep it inside and I let it build until something just pulls me over the edge. It's not a great way to deal with anger," I admitted. I knew my way of dealing with things wasn't the best, but it was how I'd always handled things. It was a problem I knew I had to work on.

"You're really mad about me and Embry, aren't you?" Bella asked.

I sighed. "I can't stand a deadbeat, Bella. To me, there's nothing worse than abandoning your family. I still can't say for sure that happened to you, but it did to Embry, and the very thought of it with you infuriates me.

Bella was quiet for a couple of minutes. I imagined She was dealing with her own feelings over it all. "I've thought about all this. I'm sure that doesn't come as a surprise you, even without the ability to hear my thoughts when we're phased. I wonder about what my parentage really is. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that no matter the answer, it won't change much. I have a family. Hell, I have multiple families. I've got Charlie and Renee, I've got the Cullens, and now I have you all."

"And we are your family, Bella. You're the younger sister I never had. I'll always look out for you," I promised her. It was a promise I'd fulfill until I took my last breath. So God help her biological father, mother, or both if they were deadbeats.

"I appreciate that, even if it does piss me off sometimes," Bella said.

I smirked. "I'm pretty sure it's supposed to sometimes."

Just then I heard a loud howl. I stood up straight and put my Alpha face on. "Paul."

"Jared?" Bella called. When he came out, we all phased so we could find out what was going on.

I heard the thoughts of a young, scared kid and immediately knew what was happening. Embry had phased.


	18. Chapter 18

**Embry's POV**

This was by far the worst day of my life. It had gone from bad to worse to downright freaky! It started off with me forgetting my math homework at home, which caused me to get a huge lecture from my teacher in front of everyone. Jake and Quil made fun of me after class. I knew they didn't mean anything by it. They were only joking, but I had been in no mood for it.

The day didn't get any better from there. A bunch of little things happened to piss me off, like a pop quiz in history and my dropping my lunch tray after bumping into someone in the cafeteria. Then I got home and found out that my douchebag math teacher had called in 'concern' because I didn't turn my homework for the first time. His concern certainly didn't stop him from reaming my ass out.

Anyway, my mom was less than thrilled and she started yelling about responsibility and the importance of good grades. It had gotten me more angry than it normally would and I screamed back at her for a minute before running out of the house.

That was when it happened. I started shaking uncontrollably with rage. That was when I first realized something strange was going on. It was not normal for a person to shake like that. I wasn't even sure if an epileptic person shook that wildly.

I was relieved a few minutes later when the shaking stopped. That relief, however, went away when I looked down and saw grey paws instead of hands in feet. Freaking paws! I was standing at the back of my house looked at my paws! Oh, yeah, I was completely flipping out. What hell was happening to me? What in the hell had I become?

'_Crap! Embry?'_ I heard a voice say inside my head.

That's right, they was a voice inside my head. Because turning into some kind of animal wasn't bad enough. Now I was hearing voices inside my head. This had to be some kind of strange nightmare. _'Okay, Embry, time to wake up now. You're going to wake up in your bed any minute now and start laughing about what a crazy dream you had. You'll tell Jake and Quil all about it and they'll laugh too.'_

The voice from before laughed. _'It don't work like that, man. It's not a dream.'_

'_Yes, it is. It's either a dream or I'm going insane. People don't just turn into… whatever the hell this is," _I said as I ran from my house into the forest. I wanted to get away from this voice that kept invading my thoughts. I just wished I could wake up. This was a dream. It had to be. Like I said, it was either that or I was going insane and I wasn't prepared to accept the second option.

'_Okay, I can't deal with this crap. I need Sam.'_

'_Sam? Sam who?' _I asked. The only Sam I knew about was Sam Uley. There was no way it could be him, right? What would he have to do with this dream I was having. Sam Uley was just some creepy gang leader who recruited the boys of La Push. Well, actually, it wasn't just boys anymore or even just La Push anymore. Bella Swan had changed all that.

The next thing I heard was a loud howl. This time it wasn't in my head though. I actually heard it through my ears. _'What was that?'_

'_That was me. It's how I call for Sam when he's not… like us," _the voice said.

'_Wait, us? Are you saying you're like me?'_ I guess I should've seen that coming. He was in my head and I was in his. That was assuming this was all real which I still wasn't ready to accept. God, this was so freaky. I just wanted to go back and do this whole day over. I wanted to forget this happened.

'_I'm afraid that's not possible,' _another voice said inside my head. This voice was deeper and more rough. It screamed authority.

'_Okay, who the hell is that?' I asked_

'_I'm Sam. Sam Uley,' _he said.

Fear creeped up inside me and I ran faster. It was him and knowing he was there, I just couldn't help but think this had something to do with his strange little gang and I wanted nothing to do with that. So I ran.

'_Embry, you need to calm down and stop running,' _Sam said in a calm yet firm voice.

'_No way! Stay the hell away from me!" _I yelled through my thoughts as I ran faster and faster. By now I was about a mile from the beach. At least I was pretty sure I was. I'd cut through the woods before to get to the beach and I was heading that way now.

'_I know you're afraid, kid. We'll explain, but you have to stop,' _Sam said.

I was not stopping. I wanted as far away from these freaks as possible.

'_Hey, newsflash, Jackass. You're one of us freaks now,'_the first voice I heard in my head said. No one had said his name yet, but I assumed it had to be Jared or Paul, the two boys in Sam's gang.

'_Shut up, Paul. Is he not freaked out enough for you? Embry, please just stop and let us help you," _a female voice said. I could only guess that it was Bella since she was the only girl I'd seen in their group, well aside from that Kim girl that Jared dated, but she didn't seem to be in their group, just dating one.

'_No! I don't wanna be a part of some stupid gang!' _

'_Sam, I can see him. I'm gaining on him,' _the voice I'd learned belonged to Paul said.

My eyes widened and I ran faster.

'_Good. We're just entering the woods from the beach. We'll meet you and corner him,'_ Sam said.

'_Stop talking about me like I'm not here! Just leave me alone!' _I practically screamed in my mind

'_Wow, and I thought I took this bad,' _Bella said.

'_You didn't think we were all a part of some creepy gang,' _a fourth voice, probably Jared's, said.

I continued to run and tried to block out the other voices. Then suddenly I came to an abrupt stop as three giant dogs, or maybe wolves, came towards me. I turned to run in the other direction, but found a fourth wolf behind me.

'_No more running, Embry. You cannot run from this,'_ Sam said. His voice was soft and filled with sympathy, but it was also laced with authority.

'_W…what's happening?" _I asked. I knew I sounded like a scared little kid, but I didn't care. I was terrified and I wanted answers.

'_We will explain, but not here or now. You need to phase back and come with us,' _Sam said.

'_Phase?' _I asked in confusion.

'_Switch back to your human form. You need to think about your body and think of a happy memory,' _Sam said.

I really wanted to go back to being human so I decided to listen. I thought about hanging out with my friends and hanging out with them. It took a few memories of it, but before I knew it, I was standing in the middle of the woods naked. Just what I wanted everyone to see.

'_Okay, I'm going go to get you some shorts. Don't move.' _With that, I watched the big black one disappear the way he came.


	19. Chapter 19

**Bella's POV**

We all led Embry back to Sam's. Embry still looked really freaked out. Not that I could blame him. Turning into a giant wolf for the first time was not the most wonderful experience. I was freaked out when it happened to me and I knew about the supernatural world.

Sam led the way inside. "Have a seat, Embry. We'll get you something to eat. I'm sure you're hungry.

Emily picked that moment to come over with a plate of food. "Here you go, Embry. I'm Emily by the way."

"Hi," Embry said shyly before looking down at the plate longingly. He then looked up at us like he was trying to decide what he wanted more, food or answers.

Sam seemed to notice this as well. "Go ahead and eat, Embry. Then we'll all talk."

Embry immediately dug into the food.

"Um, Em, I don't suppose there's more where that came from, is there?" Paul asked with a smirk.

Emily rolled her eyes. "On the stove. You guys can get your own food."

Just like normal, we all fought each other to get to the stove first. Sam won. "Don't think so, pups. Alpha gets first dibs."

We all laughed, except for Embry. He turned to stare at us in confusion. "Alpha? Is that a figure of speech?"

"I'll explain in a minute, Embry," Sam said as he went to the table with his plate and sat down.

The rest of us followed. "I know you're anxious, Embry. I was too, but hey, at least you don't have to wait for counsel leaders to get an explanation," I said to lighten the mood.

"He didn't imprint on a leech," Paul said.

"Paul," Sam said in a warning tone. It was clear he was in no mood for an argument between the two of us. "Alright, Embry, I know this is pretty confusing for you."

"You think? I turned into a… What did I turn into exactly?" Embry asked shakily.

"A wolf. You've lived on the reservation your whole life, so I'm sure you've heard our legends," Sam said.

"Yeah, Jake's dad and Quil's grandfather used to tell us the stories. Are you saying they're not stories? Quileutes can really turn into wolves?" Embry asked shocked.

"Not everyone. It only happens to some of us and only when bloodsuckers are around. They bring out the gene in us," Jared said.

"Wait, so all the stories are true. The ones about the cold ones and the Cullens. All of it?" Embry asked.

"Yeah. We exist to protect our tribe and the surrounding area from bloodsuckers. The Cullens are left alone as long as they abide by the treaty our ancestors made with them because they don't hurt humans," Sam said.

Embry looked over at me. "I don't understand. How are you a wolf? You're not Quileute. Hey, and neither am I!"

"You have to be, Embry. This only happens to those with Quileute blood. We think that your father must have been Quileute," I told him as gently as I could. I didn't know what he knew about his father or how sore the subject was for him.

Embry was quiet for a few moments as he tried to digest the information. "I…I guess that makes sense. My mom did move here for no conceivable reason. I never questioned it before now, but she must have moved here to be close to _him_!" Embry spat the last word with nothing but cold venom. He obviously had a lot of issues when it came to his father. "God, how am I gonna tell her about all this?"

"You're not," Sam said matter-of-factly. "You cannot speak to anyone about this, Embry. Our secret must be protected at all costs.

"You want me to keep this from her? How am I supposed to do that? What if it happens again when I'm at home with her? Oh, God. What if I hurt her or something?" Embry asked in fear.

"We will teach you how to control it. It won't happen overnight though, so I want you around the pack as often as possible," Sam said.

"That's why we don't really talk to anyone else if we can avoid it. If we get too upset or angry, we could phase and someone could get hurt," I added.

"So that's why you moved to La Push? It wasn't because you broke up with your boyfriend?" Embry asked.

"No. Edward and I never broke up. That's just something I said so that my dad wouldn't feel too badly with me moving here. I didn't want him to think I was leaving him specifically. Actually, Edward and I will never break up. I imprinted on him," I told Embry.

"What's imprinting?" Embry asked.

"It's the process of finding your soul mate. It's kind of like marking someone as yours. Once it happens, that person becomes everything to you. You will do anything and everything to make her, or him in Bella's case, happy and safe. It's supposed to be rare, although three out of four of us have imprinted.

"Who else has besides Bella?" Embry wondered.

"Jared and I have. I have on Emily," Sam said as he reached out for her. She went to him and he sat down on her lap. "And Jared imprinted on Kim from school."

"Wow, here I thought you guys were like in a gang or a cult and you were really some kind of…" He trailed off as he tried to find the right word.

"Pack. We're a wolf pack. Sam's Alpha. So no, it wasn't a figure of speech earlier. Sam is in charge," I told him.

"I guess that makes sense. We always assumed he was the leader of the group. Is there anything else I need to know?" Embry asked.

"Yes, and I'm afraid you're not going to like this much. Now Bella told you that we don't spend much time with those outside the Pack. That includes you. You're going to have to steer clear of your old friends," Sam said.

Embry's eyes widened in horror. "You can't be serious! You want me to drop Jake and Quil? No way! I won't do that!"

"Yes, you will, Embry. It isn't safe for you to be around your friends right now. I'm asking you to stay away from them. I hope that you'll obey me on your own, but if not, I can force you," Sam said in a hard tone.

"Force me?" Embry asked.

"It's called an alpha command. As Alpha, Sam has the power to make us fall in line. You literally can't disobey. So be a good little wolf and do as you're told," Paul said condescendingly.

I glared at him. "Do you always have to be such a freaking asshole?!"

"Hey, I'm just telling him the truth. He doesn't have a choice," Paul said.

"You can tell him that without being a jerk about it! Give him at least twenty-four hours before he has to deal with your charming personality!" I bit out.

"The two of you are dangerously close to pulling all night patrols together for the next week! I have told you several times to knock it off! Paul, lose the condescending comments. Bella, I appreciate your attempt to defend Embry, but next time, leave it to me. I am damn sick of having to act like a parent to two overgrown six-year-olds!" Sam yelled at us.

"Understood," I said.

Jared looked sympathetically at Embry. "Look, man, we know it's hard. We all had to let go of friends,"

"But you'll get them back eventually. Well, you'll at least get Jake back. He's already started to show signs of phasing. He's got maybe a month left," I told him.

"But in the meantime, he'll think I abandoned him. He hates Sam so much. He thinks Sam's the result of everything that's gone wrong lately, like with you distancing yourself from your family and refusing to talk to him, plus your dad and his fighting," Embry said.

I'd heard about the fight between Billy and Charlie. Apparently my dad was taking my moving to La Push out on Billy. I didn't understand it at first, but I eventually chalked it up to Billy supporting Sam and my decision to move in with him. Charlie probably figured Billy should be on his side. "I know, but he will understand when the truth comes out. For now, we'll all be there for you. I know it probably doesn't mean much given that we're all basically strangers to you, but the Pack is a family and we'll help you."

Embry looked down miserably. "I guess I don't have a choice. What happens now?"

"Well, tonight, you're gonna rest. One of the others will stay phased outside your house for the next few days to make sure you don't phase. You'll have to reign in your temper because that's how it happens at first," Sam said.

"I…I'm not sure that's a good idea. That I go home, that is. It happened tonight because I was fighting with my mom. If I go home, she'll start again and I'm worried I might hurt her," Embry said with a look of shame on his face. He was probably thinking about what could've happened had he not left the house.

"Embry, don't be ashamed. It's not your fault. In fact, it's good that you're so conscious about what could happen. You'll stay here tonight and we'll work on your control tomorrow. You'll be more calm after a good night's sleep anyway," Sam said.

"Thanks," Embry said quietly.

Sam turned to the rest of us. "Alright, Bella and Jared, you're do to start patrolling. Head out."

Jared and I both got up and headed out of the house.


	20. Chapter 20

**Bella's POV**

A week or so later, I was sitting at our table in the cafeteria with Paul, Jared, and Embry. It was Embry's first day back since he phased. Actually, Embry was back pretty early. Jared was the only one who'd had enough control to come back that early. Hell, it had taken me three weeks to be allowed to go to school and it was even worse for Paul.

I looked over at Embry. He was looking down at his food dejectedly. I nudged him gently. "Hey. You have a run in with Jake and Quil."

Embry shook his head. "Not yet. I've been avoiding them all day. They called out to me a few times, but I pretended I didn't here. Now that we're at lunch, they're gonna come over though. I'm not gonna be able to avoid them."

"It'll be okay, man. It'll be hard for the moment, but they'll face themselves soon and they'll understand," Jared said.

"I just don't know what I'm gonna say to them. I do I tell them that I can't be friends with them without telling them why?" Embry asked.

"They're coming now," Paul said as he looked past Embry and me.

Sure enough, Jacob and Quil showed seconds later. "Embry, what are you doing over here with Uley's gang?" Jake asked.

"Eating," Embry said simply without meeting either of their gazes.

"Yeah, we got that, but why with them? Where have you been all week? And how come you cut your hair?" Quil asked.

"I was sick. And I cut my hair because I wanted a change," Embry said.

"Yeah, right! You've joined them, haven't you? Uley got to you, just like did Bella. Look at you. You disappeared for a week, you cut your hair, you avoiding your friends. Hell, I bet you even have the tattoo!" Jake spat angrily.

"Jake, you should go. Just leave him alone," I said. I had to get them to leave, not just because Sam expected it, but because it was hurting Embry. I was very protective of him. I knew what he was going through, both with the wolf thing and with wondering about his father.

"Why, Bella? Why did you have to recruit one of my best friends into your gang? Isn't it bad enough that you've joined and our fathers barely speak to each other now?" Jake asked angrily.

"Just go, Jake," I said. I wouldn't engage. That would just keep them there longer and possibly draw attention to us. None of us needed that.

"You heard her, Black. Get lost," Paul said rudely.

Jacob looked at Embry. "Embry, the three of us have been friends practically forever. Are you really going to cut us out for them?"

"They're my friends now. Paul and Bella are right, you guys have to go."

Jacob looked at us all in disgust before and Quil left.

"You did well, man," Jared said.

"I sent my friends away. That's nothing worth celebrating," Embry said before getting up and walking away.

"I'll talk to him," I said before getting up and chasing after my newest brother. I caught up to him just as he walked out of the cafeteria. "Embry, stop!"

Embry did stop and he turned to face me. "This sucks, Bella."

"I know. I said the same thing when I first found out. I had to walk away from people in my life too. I had to leave my own father. It was very difficult. It's still difficult. It's hard for all of us, but more so for you and me because it left us with questions the others didn't have to deal with," I said. I got how Embry was feeling in a way that none of the others could. Because even though changing was traumatizing for them, they still knew who their parents were.

"Have you tried to find out?" Embry asked.

"No. I don't know how I could find out. It would seem weird if I just came out and asked if I was adopted or if my mom cheated. I'm also afraid that I'll phase if I get an answer. My control isn't a hundred percent. Hell, aside from Paul, I've got the worst control out of all of us. Also, I guess I'm a little afraid of what it'll mean," I said. I'd told Sam and myself that it wouldn't matter what the truth was, but I was afraid it would. It wouldn't change anything on my part, but I wondered about Charlie's. If it turned out that he wasn't my father and he didn't know, would it change how he felt about me? Would he stop loving me? I wasn't sure discovering the truth was worth learning the answer to that question.

"Me too. My dad could end up being someone I know. He could be one of my friends' dads or something. I hope not, but what if he is? What if my father left me for another family?" Embry asked in an emotion filled voice.

I was about to answer when my phone rang. I considered ignoring it, but it could be Sam. I didn't wanna hear the lecture he was bound to give if it was him, so I dug it out of my pocket and answered. "Hello."

"_Bella!"_ Alice squealed on the other end.

I pulled the phone away from my ear for a minute. As soon as I was sure, she'd stopped yelling, I brought the phone back to my ear. "Alice, I am not deaf, in fact, my hearing is just as good as yours now."

"_Right, sorry. I'm just excited! We're going to be spending the afternoon together!" _Alice said, excitedly.

I frowned. I wasn't sure how that was possibly given the alpha command I was under to stay away from the Cullens. "We are?"

'_Uh huh. My future disappears at four."_

"Alice, Sam ordered me to stay away from your house. I physically can't see you," I told her.

"_We won't be at my house. I see myself going to the mall before my future disappears,"_ she said.

Well, that was an interesting loophole. Sam really needed to be more specific when he gave out commands. "Alright, I needed a few things anyway. I've destroyed a lot of my wardrobe. I'll see you at four."

"_Yay! Bye!" _she said before hanging up.

"Can I come with you?" Embry asked. He'd probably heard the entire conversation.

"You wanna hang around two girls at the mall. I don't even wanna hang out at the mall," I told him. I would give anything to see Alice at her house rather than my own personal hell, aka, the mall. Sam and his stupid alpha orders.

Embry laughed. "I wanna get away from the whole wolf thing. Training and patrol is all I've done besides eat and sleep since I first phased. If you're worried about me crashing your time with your friend, I can make sure to stay quiet and not interrupt you."

"No, it's not that. I have no problem with you tagging along with me. You're a friend, a brother even. But you've been at this a week. Alice is our natural enemy and part of the reason we phase. She's my friend, so I won't lose control, but you might lose control," I told him. Sam wasn't wrong when he said that we were more likely to phase in the presence of vampires. It was why I'd done my best not to bring Edward around Embry yet. It wasn't that I didn't trust Embry. I just had to protect my imprint.

"I won't, I swear. I have good control. Sam said so," Embry said.

"Yes, you do. You have the best since apparently Jared, but it's not perfect and I know how bad you'd feel if someone got hurt," I told him.

Embry looked down sadly.

I cringed at the look on his face. Embry pulled off that little boy face without even trying. It was hard to say no to. "Alright, I'll have Alice meet us in the parking lot and we'll see how you do."

Embry started smiling. "Sweet! Thanks, Bella."

"Let's go back in," I said before we began walking back. "One more thing. Try to keep this from Sam when we're phased because he will murder me if he finds out."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Embry and I made it to the mall at exactly four. Alice had pulled up just as we did in Edward's Volvo.

"Cool car," Embry said.

"Wow. I can't believe Edward let her use his car," I said. Edward rarely let anyone touch his Volvo. I was pretty sure the only thing he loved more than that thing was me.

We got out of the car and approached the Volvo. Alice got out just as we made it over there. She immediately put her arms around me. "Bella!"

I hugged her back quickly and pulled away. I loved her, but the stench was bad. "Hey. How'd you get Edward to let you borrow his car?"

I might have snaked the keys when he and the guys went hunting," Alice said with a sly smile.

I laughed. "Of course you did. Oh, I wish I could be there when you get back with it." It would be very entertaining to see what Edward would say to Alice. Once again I cursed Sam and his orders.

Alice's eyes moved to Embry. She eyed him curiously. "Who's this."

"This is Embry. Embry this is…" I trailed off after turning to Embry and seeing the way he was looking at Alice. The look he was giving her was so intense. It was like she was his entire focus, like no one else was around.

My eyes widened when I realized what that meant. Embry was looking at Alice the same way I had Edward, the same way Jared had Kim, and the same way Sam did Emily. Two things became very clear to me. Embry had just imprinted on Alice and Sam was going to kill me.


	21. Chapter 21

**Embry's POV**

It was hard to explain what I felt when I looked into Alice Cullen's eyes. I knew before I even saw her that she wasn't your typical leech. She didn't even smell like one. I knew that because I'd smelled Bella's boyfriend. I'd yet to meet him, but I'd caught his scent when I was learning to patrol with Sam and Bella and her imprint were at the house.

Alice wasn't like that though. She didn't have the same odor that Bella's boyfriend had. She didn't seem like my enemy. Then when Bella and I went up to her, our eyes locked. It felt like I was almost remade in that moment. Everything in my life that I thought mattered disappeared in that moment, or at least became secondary. Right now, all I could think about was her. I needed to protect her and make her happy. It was all that mattered.

I came out of the daze a second later to see Bella looking at me in shock. I looked between her and Alice and suddenly realized what happened. I'd seen it happen for Sam, Jared, and Bella when we were phased and they thought about it. I had just imprinted on Alice Cullen. "Bella."

"I know, Embry," Bella said with astonishment in her voice.

"Well, I'm glad someone does because I don't. What's going on? How come he doesn't smell like a dog?" Alice asked looking at me.

I wasn't sure what to do next. Should I tell her that she was my imprint? What should I say? How do you tell someone that they are destined to be with you for life? Should I wait for Sam? I just didn't know what to do, so I looked to Bella.

"Oh, God, this is bad," Bella whispered to herself.

"Why is it bad? You did it," I reminded her. I could only guess that Bella thought it was bad for me to imprint on Alice because she was a vampire, but Bella had imprinted on a vampire too. Why was it so much worse this time?

"It's complicated. Oh, man, this is so complicated," Bella said still in shock.

"What's complicated? What's going on?" Alice asked again.

"We have to go to Sam. He's gonna kill me," Bella said.

"Why? This is my fault," I said. I was the one who'd imprinted. If anyone should get yelled at by Sam for that, it should be me.

"No, it's not, Embry. You had no choice. Please understand that. When it gets complicated, and it will, remember that you had no control over it. Alice, you remember that too," Bella said.

"How am I supposed to do that when I have no idea what's going on?" Alice said. There was panic in her voice and it was hurting me to know how scared she was.

"Don't be scared, okay? I promise everything will be okay." I didn't know if that was true or not, but I knew I had to reassure her. I didn't want her to be worried.

"Okay, we need to move this conversation elsewhere, like to Sam's," Bella said.

"I'm not allowed on the reservation," Alice said.

"I'm allowing you on. Sam will understand when I explain. Come on. We'll take Edward's car since we can all fit in it better than my truck," Bella said.

"Okay, but you're gonna explain whatever this is to me too, right?" Alice asked.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Alice pulled the car up Sam and Emily's driveway. Jared and Paul were outside when we arrived. Paul looked pissed when he saw her. The kind of pissed that would have him phased. It worried me greatly for Alice's safety.

"Alice, stay in the car for a minute, alright? Paul is very volatile. We can't have him phase and hurt you," Bella said.

"Bella, I can take care of myself," Alice said with a smile.

"You don't understand. Things have changed. We have to protect you," Bella said before getting out of the car.

I followed her and walked around to the driver's side. I positioned myself right in front of where Alice was sitting in the car to protect her.

"You brought another leech here! What was bringing your boyfriend around every chance you got not enough?!" Paul asked angrily. He began to shake as the desire to phase started to get the better of him.

"Shut up! Don't talk about her like that!" I yelled angrily. I had started to shake as well.

"You know, we all know you're practically joined at the leech lover's hip, but she brought a freaking leech here!" Paul yelled. He seemed to think it was Bella I was trying to defend. I probably would've if I wasn't more worried about defending my imprint.

Jared looked at me. He seemed to notice the way I was standing protectively in front of Alice. "I don't think he's talking about Bella."

Paul looked between me and Alice. If anything, he seemed to get more angry. "You have got to be kidding me! Again?! This is freaking ridiculous!"

"Paul, calm your ass down now!" Bella yelled back at him.

Just then, Sam came out of the house. "What the hell's going…?" he trailed off when he saw Alice and then narrowed his eyes at Bella. "Explain yourself, now!"

"Don't yell at Bella. It's my fault," I said. I wasn't going to let Bella take the heat for something that wasn't her fault. I was the one who imprinted. Alice was on our land because of me.

"No, it's not. It's no one's fault. Sam, I know you're going to be pissed, especially since I went behind your back and brought Embry into it, but try to remember that it would've happened anyway," Bella said.

"What would've happened? What did you do?" Sam asked through gritted teeth

Alice apparently had had enough because she got out of the car at that moment. "Okay, I'm done being in the dark. What the hell's going on?"

Paul sneered at her. "You wanna know what's going on, Leech?"

"Paul, shut up!" Bella growled at him.

Paul ignored her. "What's going on is that another one of you bloodsuckers have wormed your way into our lives! Like one of you wasn't enough!"

Alice looked at us all. Mostly she looked between me and Bella though. At first she looked confused, then realization and shock displayed on her face. Finally, she looked horror struck. "No. No, this can't be!"

"Alice, calm down. I know this is upsetting, but it'll be okay," Bella tried to tell her.

"How will it be okay, Bella? What you're saying… What that mutt just said is that I'm like Edward and that can't be! I have Jasper!" Alice said in a panic.

"Oh, son of a bitch! Embry, you imprinted?" Sam asked in shock.

I nodded.

"I…I can't do this," Alice said before running in the opposite direction at vampire speed.

"No, Alice!" I yelled as I started to go after her. My heart was aching terribly with her being away from me, and with her seemingly rejecting me.

Bella grabbed my arm as I started to leave. "No, don't. I'll go after her. She'll be more likely to listen to me," she said before turning to Sam.

"Go. I have to get in touch with the Elders. I can already hear the screaming," Sam said.

"Do I have permission to go to the Cullen house if she's there?" Bella asked.

"Yes. Find her and get her back here so we can explain. As an imprint she's part of the Pack now and she needs to know what that means," Sam said.

Bella nodded and started to leave.

Sam grabbed her arm at the last minute. "Do not think for one minute that you are off the hook! You went behind my back! I don't know how you got beyond my order, but you disobeyed me and you brought Embry with you! If it had been any of the other Cullens, he might have phased! You and I are going to have a long talk later! Do you understand me?!"

Bella nodded and once again started to leave.


	22. Chapter 22

**Bella's POV**

I found Alice pretty quickly. She hadn't left La Push surprisingly. I found in the woods not too far from the Black's house. She was leaning against a tree staring into space. I went over to her. "I figured you would've left the reservation."

"I couldn't. I tried. I tried to run out of here and as far away as possible, but then I saw _his _face. Running away from him just seemed wrong. God, if this is how Edward felt, I don't know how he could possibly think of leaving you. It must have nearly killed him to even try," Alice said.

"You feel it. You feel the imprint," I said. I knew that an imprint felt the connection too, though not as much as the wolf did. It was kind of hard not to. Imprinting existed to bring soul mates together. How could only one half of that bond feel that they belonged?

"I felt something from the moment I saw him. I was different. He didn't smell like the rest of you. He smelt good. And when I looked at him, I felt something I couldn't explain. Then you figured it out and I just pushed it aside because I was worried about whatever it was that had you so concerned. Is this how he feels?"

"That's a fraction of how he feels. What he feels is much more intense. To him, there is no one on this Earth more important than you. When he looked at you, you literally became his reason for being alive. He would and will do anything for you."

Alice shook her head. "It's not right. I love Jasper."

"I know you do and I know Jasper loves you. This is a very complicated situation," I told her.

"I thought imprinting was simple. It was for you and Edward," Alice said.

"Edward and I got lucky. We loved each other beforehand. We're the only ones that did. It's not always this simple. Sam is a great example. I won't go into details because it's not my place, but he was with someone else when he imprinted on Emily," I told her. I felt for both Sam and Emily there. I'd seen in Sam's mind how hard it was for him to break Leah Clearwater's heart. It tore him up inside. Emily had also discussed the situation with me. It killed her that she'd hurt her cousin in such a way.

"And he left her?" Alice asked.

"It's not that simple. When Sam imprinted, his whole world revolved around her. She was his number one priority. He could no longer feel any attraction to the girl he was with or anyone else. The imprint wouldn't allow him to," I explained.

"So I have no choice?" Alice asked stricken.

I sighed. "I don't know. If you were a normal imprint, you would. The relationship moves at the imprint's pace and that relationship becomes whatever the imprint needs. Though I will say that so far, I haven't seen an imprint end in anything other than a relationship. With you though, I think it's different. You're a vampire, which means you probably feel a greater pull because you know he's your mate."

Alice shook her head in denial. "No. No, he's not my mate. Jazzy's my mate. I saw it."

"You saw Jasper, but did you see him as your mate?" I asked. I wasn't too sure that Alice actually saw Jasper as her mate. I believed now that maybe she just saw that he was meant to be a part of the Cullen family.

"Yes! I saw us meeting. I saw us going to the Cullens together," Alice said.

"Alice, sometimes I think you rely on your gift too much. You use it to make decisions you should make on your own. You saw Jasper and you saw the two of you travelling together. But you didn't see that he was your mate. You made an assumption. You assumed that because you were together in your vision, that meant he was your mate. But what if that's not what the vision was trying to tell you? What if you were simply supposed to help Jasper get to the others? What if all along, you were only supposed to be family?" I asked.

"You don't think Jasper and I were ever supposed to be together?" Alice asked in shock.

I put my hands up in a surrender pose. "I'm not even going to try to answer that kind of question. But Embry imprinted on you for a reason, just as you felt a bond to him for a reason. You can try to fight it if you want, but it's only going to hurt the both of you in the end. And let's not forget Jasper. He'll get hurt to because eventually you'll have to face the truth."

"I don't know what to do. I love Jasper. I don't know how to just let him go," Alice said. Her voice was filled with conflicting emotions. I knew that if she were human, she'd be in tears by now.

"Well, right now, you have to come back to the reservation with me. Sam needs to talk to you about what happens now. You're just as much a part of us as Edward now. You need to know what that means," I said.

Alice shook her head. "I can't go back there. I can't face him. God, this is so hard. I feel a pull towards him and it feels wrong to want to get away from him, but I can't seem to face him."

"Embry won't pressure you, Alice. He's there to be whatever you need from me. If you say you need time, he'll understand. But you have to come, Sam's orders. You're a part of the Pack now, even if it is just through an imprint. That means Sam's in charge. Not to mention that if I show up without you, I might as well put my death announcement in the paper," I said. Sam was already going to chew my ass out for going behind his back. I didn't wanna chance pissing him off further.

Alice sighed. "Alright, but I need to hunt first."

I had a feeling she was avoiding going back for a while longer, but a part of me wanted to avoid going back as long as possible too, so I'd go with it. "Okay."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

We made it back to Sam's a few hours later. Jared and Edward were outside when I got there. I was a little less than pleased with Edward being there. It wasn't that I didn't wanna see him. I was just worried. Everyone was very volatile right now, including Paul who was never really good at keeping his temper in check. I didn't want Edward getting hurt because of it.

I immediately went over to him. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be hunting."

"I was. I received a call that there was a pack meeting. I didn't know what was going on until I got here. Alice, are you okay."

"I…I don't know. This is all so weird," Alice said. She was obviously still trying to absorb it all.

Edward went over to her and pulled her into his arms. "It'll be alright."

I turned to Jared. "Is Kim here too?"

Jared shook his head. "She's not feeling great. Sam agreed that she should stay home. I'll fill her in later

I nodded. "Did the council elders show?"

"Came and went. Be glad you missed it because it was not fun to listen to."

"What happened?" I asked.

"They were pissed, especially Old Quil. He got really mad and started to blame you. He said it was your fault for introducing Embry to the leech," Jared said.

I scowled. I wasn't the biggest fan of Old Quil. Of all of them, he was the most hateful about vampires. He didn't seem to be a big fan of me either. He was always looking at me like I didn't belong. I didn't know if it was because I was light skinned or because I imprinted on Edward.

"You should know that Sam defended you big time," Jared said.

"Really?" I said slightly surprised. I knew how Sam felt about me, but I also knew he was extremely pissed at me. I kind of thought he agreed that it was my fault,

Jared nodded. "Don't sound surprised. You know Sam has a soft spot for you. I wouldn't take that to mean he isn't still pissed though."

"All of you, get your asses in here!" we heard Sam bark.

"Like I was saying," Jared said with a smile before walking towards the house.

The rest of us followed. When we got in there, Paul and Embry were seated at the table while Sam was leaned against the door. Emily was next to him with her hand interlocked with his.

Embry perked when he saw Alice. He got up from his chair and motioned for her to take a seat.

Alice smiled slightly and sat down. "Thanks.

Edward sat down next to her and I sat on his lap. The other sat in the scattered chairs around. Sam had obviously brought some more chairs out because we didn't normally have this many in the kitchen.

"Alright, as everyone knows, Embry imprinted today on Alice Cullen," Sam started.

"Yeah, we have another leech amongst us and another leech lover," Paul said angrily.

Embry growled angrily and started to shake.

"Enough! Embry, calm down! Paul, keep your mouth shut! I am not in the mood for your crap!" Sam said angrily.

Embry still looked mad. He looked like he was still fighting the urge to phase. Then Alice tentatively reached her hand out and placed it on his. He immediately stopped shaking.

Sam cleared his throat. "Alice, the fact that you've been imprinted on changes things. You are now considered part of the Pack. For one, as is with Edward, you'll be allowed on our land anytime. As far as the treaty goes, you're no longer considered a Cullen. You're exempt from any rules the rest of your family has to follow. But that's not to say that you have no responsibilities. You're a part of my Pack now technically, so there are times when I will require things of you. You'll be required to attend all Pack meetings unless I say otherwise and all council meetings."

"What if I don't want this imprinting thing?" Alice asked.

I could see Embry flinch slightly from what Alice said. He quickly covered it up though.

"You intend to fight this? I'm going to warn you against that. Believe me when I say, it doesn't end well, not for either of you. You'll hurt yourself because you feel it to a certain degree as well, and you might end up killing Embry if you force him out of your life completely," Sam said.

Alice looked stricken at the thought. I couldn't blame her. She might not have accepted it completely, but deep down she knew Embry was her mate. The thought of hurting him was painful. "I…I don't want that. I don't want him hurt. But I'm married."

"I'm sorry," Embry said quietly.

"It's not your fault, Embry. You didn't decide to imprint," I told him.

"She's right. It's not your fault. But I, uh… I need some time. I need to work this all out. Can you give me a couple of days?" Alice asked.

"Of course. Take as much time as you need. I'll be here when you need me," Embry said.

"Alright, I think that's enough for now. I want everyone but Bella cleared out now," Sam said.

I cringed. This was it. It was time to face the music. I stood up to let Edward up.

Everyone else got up too and one by one went outside, or in Emily's case, she went towards hers and Sam's bedroom.

"Do you want me to come back later?" Edward asked.

"No, go with Alice. She needs you right now. Granted I survive, I'm going to see if I can't help Embry some," I told him.

"Okay. I'll come back tomorrow," he said before kissing me quickly and leaving the house.

Sam waited until he was sure everyone was out of hearing range to start speaking. When he did, his voice was as sharp as a knife. "What the hell is the matter with you? I told you to stay away from the Cullens!"

"You told me to stay away from their house. I didn't go to their house." I knew that statement wasn't going to win any points, but I couldn't help it.

"You knew what I meant!" Sam bellowed, causing me to flinch slightly. "I told you I didn't want you around them until I had better control. Not only did you not listen to me, but you brought Embry as well! What if he didn't imprint? He's the least experienced wolf. He's been at this a week! He could've phased! What the hell was going through your head?!" Sam asked furiously.

"You wanna know what was going through my head, Sam? Why I brought Embry? He had just gotten into it with Jake and Quil and he was a mess. He asked me to let him come. He wanted a breather from it all. I couldn't say no," I told him.

"You shouldn't have put yourself in a position to say no! You had no business going any more than he did! Something you obviously knew since you told Jared and Paul you and Embry were taking a walk to talk about issues regarding your parents! You lied to them knowing it would get back to me. As far as I'm concerned, you lied to me! I thought we were past you questioning my decisions but apparently not!"

I opened my mouth to speak, but Sam cut me off.

"No! You are not speaking right now! I'm not listening to excuses! You're going to learn to abide by my decisions! Let me say this in a way that leaves no room for doubt. You will not go near the Cullens, aside from Edward and Alice until I say otherwise! You will also not be leaving the reservation for the foreseeable future unless it's on Pack business!" The deep timber of the Alpha was very clear. He obviously didn't trust me to obey on my own.

I nodded. I couldn't argue. I wasn't even sure I would if I could. He was so angry right now that I was worried he would phase. I didn't wanna chance pissing him off more. Besides, he was right. While I felt that I should be allowed to see the Cullens, I shouldn't have gone behind his back. I'd completely flouted Sam's authority by doing that. Not to mention the chance I took by bringing Embry. I knew it was wrong to take him. I'd taken a big chance by allowing him to come and it could've blown up in my face. "I'm sorry, Sam."

Sam calmed slightly, but I could tell he was still pissed. "You didn't just disobey me, Bella. You set an example for your brother that it was okay to do it too. I don't appreciate that. This is never to happen again! Do you understand me?"

I nodded that I did.

"Good. As well as everything else I've already told you, you're on double patrols for the next two months, starting tonight. Go get ready. You'll be patrolling with me. We leave in an hour," Sam told me.

I immediately got up and left the room.


	23. Chapter 23

**Alice's POV**

Four days. It had been four days since I was imprinted on by Embry Call. I was still reeling over it all. Four the past four days, my thoughts have either been on Embry, Jasper, or more times than most, both. I wrestled with my feelings for both of them. I loved Jasper. I'd been with him for so long and we'd been so happy together. But I also felt deeply drawn to Embry. My connection to him felt even stronger than the one I had with Jasper. That freaked me out because Jasper was supposed to be my mate.

I still hadn't told Jasper about the imprint. How could I? What could I say? How was I supposed to explain to my husband that another guy had claimed me as his mate? This would kill him. But it wasn't like I could keep it from him for much longer. Jasper already knew something wasn't right. My emotions were everywhere. He could probably tell that even without his gift. But he did have his gift so he knew without a doubt that something wasn't right with me. He'd asked several times what was wrong and I lied every single time saying that everything was fine.

Currently, I was sitting on the porch outside the house. I'd gone outside to be alone with my thoughts. Hopefully Edward would get the message and stay out of my head.

Apparently he wasn't that smart though because I soon heard the door open followed by my brother's voice. "Alice."

"Go away, Edward," I said without even looking back at him.

"You're going to have to tell him soon, Alice," Edward said.

"Back off, Edward," I warned. The last thing I needed was him pressuring me. This was my problem to deal with. It had nothing to do with him.

"But you're not dealing with it. You're avoiding it. And it does have to do with me. For one, you're my sister and I care about you. I hate the agonizing thoughts I hear from you every day. I can tell you're in pain. And then there's Jasper who's worried sick over you. He's asked me more than once if I've heard anything in your thoughts. He's never asked me to invade your mind before, so I know how worried he is," Edward said.

I closed my eyes sadly. If I could, I'd probably be crying my eyes out right now because this was just so hard. I was hurting Jasper and probably Embry. I hated it. I hated that no matter what I did, I would leave someone devastated.

"I know it's hard," Edward said.

I finally turned and glared at him. "Like hell you know! Bella imprinting on you was the best thing that ever happened to you! You already loved her. Embry is a stranger to me and I'm with someone else."

"Okay, you're right. I can't really understand that. I couldn't imagine finding out that Bella isn't really my mate," Edward said.

"Jasper is my mate," I said. Despite what Bella said about her views of my relationship with Jasper, I just couldn't believe Jasper wasn't my mate. He had to be.

"No, Alice, I don't think he is. He can't be. If he was, you wouldn't be so drawn to Embry. Hell, he wouldn't have imprinted on you if you belonged to Jasper," Edward said.

"Bella said Embry would be anything I needed," I said. To be fair though, she'd also said she'd never seen an imprint not develop into a relationship.

"She's right, it's never happened. While, yes, the wolf can be anything the imprint wants, eventually, they usually end up together. A wolf imprints because the person is their soul mate. To me it seems like it almost has to end in a relationship. And with you, I think it's even more likely. I've heard your thoughts, Alice. You're as drawn to Embry as I am to Bella. You've chosen him as your mate, even if you don't realize it. You need to tell Jasper the truth. He deserves to know," Edward said.

"You mean like Bella deserves to know that Billy Black is her father." Yes, I was turning it around. I wanted off the subject of my complicated love life.

Edward was taken aback by my comment. He didn't think I knew about that. "How…?"

"I saw you decide to go to La Push that first time after Bella moved there," I interrupted him. "None of the wolves were around so I saw the outcome. I saw you confront him. You still haven't told Bella, so I don't see why you should get to lecture me about honestly.

"It's different. Bella had her entire world turned upside down. She'd had one day to process the fact that she was a wolf, that she had to leave Charlie behind, and that at least one of her parents weren't so. She had enough going on without adding Billy's betrayal to it," Edward defended himself.

"That was months ago. You're still keeping her in the dark," Alice said.

"She will find out soon. Billy has asked me to wait until his son has phased. He said he would tell them both then," Edward said.

"Edward, you don't owe Billy Black anything. You owe Bella. She's your mate. She's the one you need to be loyal to. Tell her the truth," I urged. It was no longer an attempt to get the conversation off me. Now I was trying to help my brother and sister. Edward needed to be honest with Bella about what was going on.

"All hell will break loose, Alice. It's not just Bella that will lose it. There is Jacob Black. I am sure he will have quite a bit to say about it. Billy cheated on his mother with Renee. There is also Sam. Sam cares deeply for Bella and he has his own issues with fathers. I believe he will be almost as angry as Bella when he finds out," Edward told me.

"Again, it's not your problem. Helping Bella is your only concern. What happens to Billy Black is on him," I said.

Just then, I heard a motorcycle. I turned towards the driveway to see Jasper pull up. I sucked in a breath. I'd been avoided Jasper. I had a feeling that was going to have to stop now.

Jasper parked the bike and started walking towards Edward and me. "Edward, may I have some time alone with my wife?"

"Of course. I was planning to go and see Bella anyway," Edward said before walking down the porch steps and towards the parking garage.

Jasper walked towards me and sat beside me. "We need to talk, Alice."

"I know," I said quietly. I knew Edward was right. I needed to be honest with Jasper, just as I believed Edward should be honest with Bella.

"Something's been up with you. You've been distant for days. What's going on? Did you see something that has you rattled?" Jasper asked.

I laughed humorlessly. "I wish I had foreseen this. No, there was no vision. There was no sign of this coming at all. It just happened."

"What happened?" Jasper asked.

I took an unnecessary breath to prepare to tell him. "You know that I went to see Bella a few days ago. We were gonna go shopping."

"Yeah, I remember. It was right after that that you started acting so weird. So this has to do with Bella?"

"Yes and no. It happened when I was with her, but technically it doesn't really have much to do with her. Oh, God, I should just come out and say it. Bella's wolf brother, Embry Call, imprinted on me," I told him. There, it was out. I'd finally said the words.

Jasper looked at me expressionlessly for a minute. He seemed to be letting my words sink in. Then his face displayed shock and then pain as it did sink in and he realized exactly what it meant. "Imprint. You mean the way Bella imprinted on Edward."

I nodded. "Jazzy, I love. You can feel that. You know I love you."

Jasper let out a strangled noise. He took several deep breaths and tried to get ahold of his emotions. He'd always hated letting people see him upset, even me. "What… What do you feel for him?"

"I don't know. This is just so strange. I…I feel drawn to him," I admitted. I couldn't deny it. Jasper would see right through it. He was an empath for God's sake. I couldn't hide my feelings for him. "But I know how I feel about you. I love you."

"I know that. I do feel it. But I also know what he feels. I know because I've felt Bella's love for Edward. It's stronger than anything I've ever felt before. Her whole heart belongs to him. Every piece of her is tied to him. Edward's feelings for her are slightly stronger than that of a vampire who has found his mate as well. It means that you will love this boy," Jasper said with a shudder.

"I can fight it," I told him. It would probably hurt me to fight it, but I could. I felt like I had to. Jasper needed me. I owed it to him to be with him.

"And how long do you think that'll work? You won't be able to do that for long. The m…mating bond isn't something that can be fought for long. And that's what he is. He's your mate," Jasper said to me. He tried to hide the pain in his voice, but he couldn't.

"I love you," I told him again.

Without a word, Jasper stood up and walked back down the steps.

"Where are you going?" I asked frantically.

"I need to be alone for a while," he said.

"Jasper, I'm sorry," I told him.

"It's not your fault. I don't blame you. I don't even blame him. I wish I could. It would make it a lot easier. But we don't choose our mates. Don't fight the connection, Alice. You deserve to be happy. If he can make you happy, let him," Jasper said. His voice was very shaky with raw emotion.

"You're leaving." It wasn't a question. I could tell by the way he speaking that he planned to leave. He was saying goodbye right now.

"For now. I'll be back eventually. Right now I just need some time. I'm going to go for a run now. I'll be back when I can to get some things and say goodbye to the others," He said before talking off at a vampire run.

I put my head in my hands and let out a dry sob.


	24. Chapter 24

**Bella's POV**

I was sitting in the kitchen with Embry and Emily. Embry and I were eating like our third helping from dinner. The others were all out. Paul and Jared were patrolling and Sam had gone to Billy's.

As I was finishing up my plate, I saw Edward walk up. I was out of my chair in seconds and immediately opened the door for him. "Hey."

"Hi," he said before kissing me gently on the lips.

I pulled away after a minute and pulled him in. "I wasn't expecting you so soon. I figured I wouldn't see you until later."

"I decided to come earlier. I would've been here even earlier, but I decided at the last minute to grab a quick hunt. Hello, Emily, Embry," Edward greeted.

"Hi, Edward," Emily greeted back warmly.

"Hi. Um, how is Alice," Embry asked. He'd been really on edge. It had been several days since he'd imprinted on Alice and he hadn't seen her since.

"She is dealing the best way she can. I think that she is finally going to tell Jasper. He arrived just before I left," Edward said.

"I hope she does tell him. He deserves to know," I said. I wanted this to all work out for all three of them. Although that was a bit unrealistic. Someone was going to get hurt, most likely Jasper. No matter what Alice did, eventually, she wouldn't be able to deny Embry was her mate. She would have to face it and Jasper would be devastated. That was why it was best that she just tell him. It would be worse the more she waited.

"Yes, he does," Edward said quietly. "Bella, would you like to take a walk on the beach?"

"Uh, are you sure that's a good idea? Someone could see us. We're supposed to be broken up, remember?" I asked.

"We both have impeccable hearing. If someone approaches, we'll know," Edward said.

"Yeah, okay. We'll be back," I told the others before leading the way outside.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Less than minutes later, we were walking the beach hand in hand.

"So how are things with you and Sam?" Edward asked. He knew that things had gotten pretty bad after he and Alice left the day Embry imprinted.

"Uh, I'm still pretty much avoiding him," I said. I was trying my best to stay out of Sam's way. It wasn't because of his anger. It was my own shame. I really screwed up that day. What Sam said to me had been spot on. I knew I was disobeying Sam when I went to see Alice. And taking Embry along was really irresponsible. If it had been anyone else, Embry probably would've phased. Not to mention that I broke Sam's trust. I think that was the worst part for him. I'd proved to him he couldn't trust me to follow his orders.

"He will get over it soon. He cares about you a lot,' Edward said.

"I know. So what's going on?" I knew there was a reason Edward had asked to come here. He hadn't asked me to walk with him just for the hell of it.

"What makes you think anything is?" Edward asked.

"When you asked me to come for a walk with you, you had the same look in your eyes that you did that night you told me you were leaving me," I said. It had made me more than a little nervous when I saw that look. I didn't think he would do that to me again, but I did think that whatever he had to say could be just as damaging.

"I'm not leaving," he assured me.

We stopped walking and faced each other. "I didn't think you were, but something is obviously bothering you,"

"Yes," Edward admitted. "I have been keeping something from you."

"You what?" I asked hurt. I couldn't believe he was keeping something from me. We were supposed to be past the stage where he'd keep things from me to protect me. We weren't supposed to have secrets from each other.

"Please don't be upset. I didn't keep it from you because I didn't want you to know. I kept it from you at first because I felt you had enough to deal with and I didn't want to overwhelm you. Then later it was because I was asked not to say anything for a little bit. But after a conversation with Alice, I realize that I do not owe this person my silence. The only person I owe is you. I owe you honesty. Someone in your life who knows the truth should be honest with you. You need to hear this from me," Edward said.

I began to get angry. Someone had asked my boyfriend, my imprint to keep secrets from me? How dare they? Keeping secrets from me was bad enough, but getting Edward to do it to just pissed me off! "Who? Who asked you to lie to me? Was it Sam?"

"No. Sam doesn't know about this. If he knew, he'd be downright murderous. You won't be happy angry. This is gonna hurt and it's going to make you very angry," Edward said.

I began to get very nervous. This was bad. Edward was making that perfectly clear. From the way he was talking, it was going to be worse than when he tried to leave me in the woods. It was going to be worse than anything I'd ever been told. It almost had me ready to tell Edward I didn't want to know. If it was going to be so bad that I considered it worse than leaving me, I wasn't sure I could handle it. But I had a feeling that there wasn't any real escaping it. "Tell me."

Edward put his hands on my cheeks and leaned his forehead against mine. "I'm sorry, Love. I wish I didn't have to say this. It's times like this where I just really wish I didn't have my gift. Then I wouldn't know this and I wouldn't have to tell you. But I do have to tell you. "I know the truth about why you phased. Your mom had an affair."

I shuddered and willed myself to hear the rest. I wasn't sure I wanted to know it. I had mixed feelings about it. But either way, I couldn't hide from it. This was something I had to face. "Who?"

The name Edward uttered so quietly was the last one I expected to hear. "Billy Black."


	25. Chapter 25

**Bella's POV**

I pulled away from Edward and stared at him in shock. Out of all the names he could've said, Billy's was the last one I expected. I'd known Billy Black my whole life. I remembered going fishing with him and my dad. I used to make mud pies with his son. Now I was hearing he was my father.

Even the words in my head didn't make sense to me. Billy Black my father? It just didn't seem right. Billy wouldn't do something like that. He wouldn't cheat on his wife or sleep with his best friend's wife, and he certainly wouldn't abandon a child. No, this wasn't right. "You're wrong. You must have misunderstood his thoughts."

Edward shook his head sadly. "I confronted him about it. He admitted it to me. He didn't want to, but he seemed to realize that he couldn't lie to me, what with me being able to read his mind.

I was on the verge of a panic attack. Billy, my father's best friend was actually my real father. Jake was my brother. This was why I'd felt such a deep loyalty to Jake. It wasn't because the wolf in me recognized him as a future wolf. It was because the wolf in me recognized that he was my blood.

"Bella?" Edward questioned worriedly.

"How long have you known?" I asked him.

"For sure? Since the day you moved in with Sam. I am sorry I didn't tell you. It's just that it had been barely twenty-four hours since you phased. You'd been forced away from your home, told you had to stay away from your friends and family, and learned your parents weren't who you thought they were. I was afraid of what it would do to you to know. I had decided to tell you a while back though. I spoke with Billy and told him I'd tell you if he didn't. He asked me to wait until his son had phased. I think he was worried that the trauma would cause him to phase sooner. But I don't owe Billy or Jacob anything. You are the one I needed to be loyal to. I'm sorry I wasn't sooner," Edward said.

I barely registered his words of apology. My brain was still trying to reconcile the fact that Billy Black was my father. He'd had an affair with his best friend's wife and I was the result. And Billy had never said a word. He never tried to claim me. He let Charlie raise me as his own. He'd abandoned me as much as Sam and Embry's fathers had them.

Once that sunk in, the pain and anger hit me like a ton of bricks. I wasn't sure what feeing was more dominant. All I knew was that I felt an overwhelming amount of both. It hurt so badly to know that Billy had abandoned me. I knew I shouldn't care because I had Charlie. I'd even told Sam that it didn't matter. I was wrong. It mattered. I loved Charlie the same as I did before I learned this, but it still hurt to know that the man who helped bring me into this world didn't give a damn about me. I was nothing more than his dirty little secret.

I started thinking about all the times in my life where Billy acted like he cared about me, like giving me his truck after I moved back and trying to warn me against Edward out of concern. He'd even taken it so far that he bribed Jacob to warn me. I became more angry just thinking about it. Who the hell did Billy think he was trying to pretend he cared? He didn't give a damn about me. He would've claimed me as his own if he really gave a damn.

"Bella, please say something," Edward said as he took a step towards me.

I immediately took a retreating step back. I could feel my anger seep into every part of my body. I was going to lose control soon and I couldn't have Edward near me when I did. "Stay back."

"Love, please try to calm down. I know you are upset. Maybe I should've waited for Sam," Edward said.

I tried my best to calm down. I thought about Edward. I thought about my relationship with my Pack brothers. I thought about Charlie. Well, that was a mistake because as soon as I thought about Charlie, I thought about Billy and the pain he'd caused Charlie as well as me.

And it was all over. My entire body started vibrating until it gave into the impulse to phase. Then I was standing on all fours and growling loudly.

I looked at Edward who still had the same sad look on his face that he had when he told me about Billy. I stared at him for a minute before running off in the other direction. I couldn't be around Edward right now. I didn't wanna be around anyone for that matter. I just wanted to run and try to forget this whole thing, though I didn't really see the latter happening.

"Bella, don't go!" Edward called after me

"_Bella, what's going on? Why are you phased?" Jared's voice entered my head._

I ignored him. I didn't wanna talk to Jared or anyone else. About the only one I wanted to talk to was Billy, and I didn't so much wanna talk to him as I wanted to rip his head off, literally.

"_Whoa. Leech lover's pissed. What's got your panties in a bunch?" Paul asked._

"_Screw you, Paul!" _I snarled as I continued to run.

"_Bella, what's wrong? Why are you so mad at Billy? And Where's Edward? We caught his scent."_

The image of Edward and me on the beach came to mind, as well as him telling me about Billy. And once it came to my mind, Jared and Paul knew too.

"_Holy crap! Bella, I'm sorry. No one should have to deal with something like this. Where are you? We'll come help you," _Jared said.

"_You can't help me, Jared. Leave me alone,"_ I begged.

"_That's the last thing you need. Tell us where you are. We'll get you back to Sam. He'll help you," _Jared said.

I didn't reply. I just kept going. Before I knew it, I was coming up to the Black house. I didn't turn back though. If anything, I ran there faster. My body was apparently determined to confront Billy, even if my brain hadn't caught up with it.

"_Bella, don't do it. You'll regret it," _Paul said.

I noted that he'd used my name for the first time and that he actually sounded concerned. It didn't change anything though. I was now determined to confront Billy. I didn't know what I was going to say or do, but Billy was going to deal with me now.

"_We're not going to get there before her. We need to call Sam," _I heard Jared say to Paul.

"_Sam's already at Billy's, remember. He's checking on Jacob," _Paul said.

'_Would you both shut up?" _I asked angrily. I wanted them out of my head. My own thoughts were bad enough right now.

"_Okay, Bella, if you're going to do this, you need to phase back. You can't confront Billy as a wolf," _Jared said.

Jared was right about that. If I wanted Billy to understand even one word of what I had to say to him, I was going to need to phase back to my human form. The only problem was that I was so angry that I wasn't sure I'd be able to phase back.

I continued to run to Billy's, telling myself that I was figure out a way to phase back after I got there. I emerged from the woods just outside his land when I saw Edward waiting with a change of clothes for me

"I went back to Sam's to get you some clothes. I figured you'd come here," Edward said.

If I was human I would've smiled. Instead I took the offered clothing in my mouth and disappeared back into the woods. I thought about Edward as I tried to change back. I thought about the day we met, the day he saved me from getting crushed by Tyler's van, the times in the meadow, and finally the day I imprinted on him. That one finally worked and was human again.

I quickly slipped on the clothes and walked out to Edward. "Thanks. You should go now."

Edward shook his head. "No. I'm going to be here to help you through this."

"No, Edward. I'm really angry right now. I barely managed to phase back and I'm fighting the urge to phase again. I don't want you to get hurt," I told him.

"I'll be alright. Sam's inside and he'll keep you calm if need be. I'm not leaving you," Edward said firmly.

I wanted to keep arguing, but I knew that it wouldn't get me far. I would be the same way if I was in his shoes. "Alright, but if it looks like I might phase, you have to leave.

Edward nodded.

With that, we headed towards the house.


	26. Chapter 26

**Bella's POV**

I approached The Black house with Edward by my side. The closer I got, the more angry I became. Every time I even thought about Billy I got angry. He'd abandoned me to his best friend, yet he still came around. That was like a slap in the face to me. He didn't want me, but he was still a part of my life as if he cared.

When we came to the front door, Edward held out his hand for me to take.

I immediately shook my head no. I was really, really angry right now. If I phased, I didn't want him touching me, or even near me really. I didn't wanna take the chance of him being hurt.

Edward smiled, telling me he understood, and retracted his hand.

I knocked on the door and waited.

I immediately heard footsteps inside. "I'll get it, Dad. Anything to get away from this weirdo." Jacob had said the last statement low so that Billy couldn't hear him.

I wasn't prepared when Jacob opened the door. It hit me hard. This was not just Jacob, the kid I used to make mud pies with. This was my brother. I knew that when I got there, but somehow it didn't sink in until I opened the door and saw him there.

Jacob didn't look that happy to see me. I wasn't surprised. Jacob blamed me a lot for losing Embry's friendship. He blamed Sam more, but me also. I knew that from the glares he'd send me in school. "What are you doing here, Bella? What, you can't survive even a minute without your freaky leader around?"

I didn't answer. I literally had no words for him. I had more than my fair share of words for Billy, but I just did not know what to say to the boy in front of me.

"Leave her be. She is going through a lot right now," Edward said.

Jake looked at him. "What are you doing here? I thought you two broke up. You're not even supposed to be on our land."

Before either of us could answer, Sam approached us with Billy right behind him. "Bella, what are you doing here?" Sam asked.

I barely even registered Sam's presence. My eyes were focused on the man in the wheelchair behind him. The man that was supposed to be my father. I couldn't help the hiss of anger that passed through me as I looked at the man.

"Bella, what's wrong?" Sam asked concerned.

I pushed past Jacob into the house. I barely noticed Edward come in behind me. My gaze, or should I say glare,

Billy looked at me intensely for a few seconds before glaring at Edward. He could clearly tell that I knew from the way I was looking at him. "You little son of a bitch! I asked you to wait!"

"Shut up! You leave him the hell alone! You don't get to attack him because you're a worthless asshole!" I snarled. Now I was really pissed. Not only was Billy a worthless deadbeat, but now he was verbally attacking my imprint. I wouldn't put up with.

"Hey. Don't talk to my dad like that!" Jacob yelled at me.

"Jake, go for a walk," Billy ordered.

"What? No way in hell!" Jacob protested.

"Why do you want him to leave, Billy? You don't want him to know what rotten SOB you are?" I asked angrily before taking a step towards him.

Sam wasted no time in getting between me and Billy and placing a hand on my arm. "Bella, you need to calm down and tell me what is going on."

"Dad, what is she talking about? Why is she so pissed at you?" Jake asked.

"Go ahead, Billy. Tell your son what kind of person you really are," I urged with a growl.

"Bella, please don't do this. I know you're angry, but don't take it out on him. This isn't his fault. Just let him leave and you and I can talk," Billy said.

I laughed humorlessly at Billy's words and tried to advance on him. Emphasis on tried. Sam had a good grip on my arm and he refused to let me get any closer to Billy.

"No, I don't think so. You're not getting any closer. Tell me what's wrong?" Sam said. It was a cross between a plead and an order.

"Ask him! Ask him about his time with my mother. And no, Billy, I won't let you push Jacob out of the room. I won't be the scandal you wanna hide anymore," I said angrily.

"You never were, Bella. Please believe me, it was never like that," Billy said.

"What are you talking about? What Scandal?" Jacob asked confused.

Meanwhile, Sam's eyes got very dark and he turned to Billy. He'd figured it out. "You worthless bastard!"

"Sam, please stay out of this. It's not what you think," Billy said.

"Everyone shut up!" Jacob screamed. "Tell me what's going on!"

Billy looked at Jake. He just stared at him for a few moments before apparently coming to the realization that he had no choice. "I…It happened before you were born. Your mother and I were fighting constantly. We were on the verge of a separation. So were Charlie and Renee. I went to speak to Charlie one night, to talk to him about your mother, but he wasn't home. Renee was. I should've left when I realized he wasn't there, but I didn't. We talked for a little while and then went out and got hammered. The next thing I know we're at a hotel in Port Angeles."

Jacob's eyes went wide in horror. "You slept with Bella's mom?"

Billy nodded. "More than once. It just seemed to keep happening," Billy said.

I laughed. "It seemed to keep happening? You say that like free will had nothing to do with it. You had an a affair with your best friend's wife!"

Billy turned to me. "Yes. I hate myself for what I did to Charlie. I spent the last eighteen years trying to make up for it. I wanted to make it right."

"How does abandoning your daughter make it right?" Sam asked angrily.

"I didn't abandon her! I never even knew for until recently," Billy said.

"You chose not to know," Edward said.

"Hey, you stay out of this! This is your fault anyway! I asked you to give me time!" Billy yelled.

I growled angrily. "I told you to leave him alone! You're not going to blame him because you're a bastard. Oh, actually, I think I have that wrong. I'm the bastard, right?"

Suddenly, Sam's eyes shifted away from Billy and they turned from anger to concern. "Jacob."

I looked over at Jake to see that he had begun to shake wildly. He looked like he was seconds from phasing. His anger from learning that we're related must have caused it to happen earlier because he'd been at least a few weeks away before.

"Y…you're Bella's father. She's my sister?!" Jake asked angrily.

"Jacob, you need to calm down right now," Sam said gently.

"Shut up, Uley! I'm talking to my father!" Jake yelled.

"Jake, son, listen to Sam. You're getting too angry," Billy said.

"Oh, really? You just told me that you cheated on mom and that Bella is my sister! Of course I'm angry!" he yelled.

"Jacob, let's get out of here. Let's go for a walk and talk," I said as Sam and I inched closer to him. I knew we had to get Jacob out of the house because he was going to phase. Nothing was going to stop it now

"No, I don't wanna talk to you!" Jacob said before taking a large step away from us and towards Edward. "I wanna talk to my dad! I wanna know how the hell he could do this to my family! To my mother!"

"Edward, get away from him now!" I yelled.

It was too late though. Jacob phased right then and there. And Edward went flying.


	27. Chapter 27

**Bella's POV**

My heart stopped as I watched Jacob plow into Edward as he phased and he crashed into the front door, breaking it to pieces. I never knew fear like that before now. I felt like it would swallow me whole it was.

I practically leaped out of the house to help Edward. "Edward, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Love," Edward said as he pulled himself up and brushed himself off.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes. He didn't scratch or bite me. It was just the impact of the phase," Edward said.

"Outside!" I heard Sam's deep alpha voice.

Seconds later, Jacob whined and made his way outside. He looked around for a minute and then growled at Edward. His wolf was obviously reacting to the fact that there was a vampire in close proximity of him.

"Edward, get back," I ordered. I waited for him to back up about ten feet before phasing and growling angrily at Jacob. _'Back off. You come at my imprint, brother or not, I will tear you apart!'_

'_B…Bella? What's happening? What's wrong with me? What's an imprint? What the hell is he? He smells terrible. What are we? What's going on?!"_

Jacob's terror calmed me a bit, but I was still on edge and made sure to keep a good distance between Jacob and Edward. I meant what I said. I would not allow Jacob to hurt Edward.

'_Jacob, calm down,' _Sam's thoughts entered our minds. I looked over and sure enough, he'd phased.

Jacob turned his head to Sam and then he let out a whine. _'Uley, is that you? Why can I hear you in my head? God, I can hear both of you in my head!"_

Soon, I heard Embry's voice enter my head. _'Oh, man, he phased already?'_

'_I'd phase too if I just learned what he did,' _Jared said.

'_Embry, when did you phase?' _I asked. The last I knew, Embry was at the house still human.

'_Jared came and got me. He told me what happened. I'm so sorry, Bella,' _Embry said.

I felt a wave of pain and anger as I thought about everything that had happened before Jacob phased. I pushed it aside though. There were more important things to worry about right now.

Jacob started to freak out even further. _'There are more voices in my head! What the hell is going on?!_

'_Calm down, Jacob We will explain, but we need to get away from here. Anyone could drive by and see us. We need to get into the forest. And Edward, you should get out of here. It's not safe for you to be around Jacob right now,' _Sam said

Edward nodded. He looked at me for a minute and then took off at vampire speed.

'_How did he do that? What the hell is he?' _Jacob asked.

'_Not here. Let's go into the forest,'_ Sam said again.

'_I'm not going anywhere with you!' _he said with a growl.

'_Yes, you are! Get into the forest now!' _Sam Alpha commanded.

Unable to disobey, Jacob ran towards the trees by his house.

Sam and I both followed. He all stopped about a mile in. _'Alright, Jacob, we know how you're feeling right now. We're going to explain.'_ Sam said.

The others joined us at that moment.

I decided to calm Jacob before he started to lose it even further by the sight of the rest of the Pack. "Jake, it's okay. This is Paul and Jared. Embry's here too. He's the one right next to you."

'_Hey, man. It's gonna be okay,' _Embry said from Jake's left.

'_W…what's happening?' Jake asked._

'_Jake, do you remember telling me about the tribe's legends that day on the beach?' I asked him. _

'_Yeah, so? What do a bunch of stupid stories have to do with anything?' _Jacob asked.

'_They're not stories, Jacob. They're true, all of them. There is a gene in our blood that causes us to turn into wolves. That's what's happened. You just joined the Pack,' _I told him.

'_What? No, that's ridiculous,'_ Jacob denied.

'_Dude, look around you. We're all wolves, including you," _Paul said.

'_Paul,' _Sam warned.

Jacob looked around at all of us. _'The stories are true? We turn into wolves? We fight vampires? There are vampires?'_

'_Yes. It's our job to protect the area and the people from bloodsuckers. The only ones we do not touch are the Cullens. We have a treaty with them. That part is true as well,' _Sam said.

'_I heard the stories about that in my dad's stories too. He said part of the treaty was that they had to stay off our land, but I Edward Cullen was just here,' _Jacob said.

'_We'll get into that later, but I'll just say now that Edward and Alice Cullen are no longer considered part of the treaty. They are part of us. It'll be explained later,' _Sam promised.

'_God, I can't believe this. I'm a wolf. I'm a freaking wolf! Why the hell is this happening?' _Jake asked. I had a feeling he was talking more to himself than anyone else.

'_It's alright, Jake. I know you're scared, but we'll help you through this. We've all had to deal with it,' _I assured him.

'_So this is it. This was why you and Embry stopped talking to me and joined up with Sam?'_

'_Yeah. When you turn into a wolf, your temper kind of flares and when that happens, you phase. Someone could get seriously hurt,' _I said. My mind immediately flashed to just a few minutes ago when Jake phased and propelled Edward.

'_I…I didn't mean to do that. I didn't even mean to go after him later. It's like something inside me had the urge to attack him,' _Jacob said.

'_It's alright, Jacob. That's your wolf. It can't register that Edward is untouchable. We'll teach you how to control it so that you won't act on that urge,' _Sam said.

'_So what now?' _Jake asked.

'_Now we try to get you back into human form. You'll need to think of something very happy for it to work,' _Sam said.

Jake snorted. _'Happy? I just found out that my father cheated on my mother and that I have a sister and you want me to get happy?'_

I shuddered at the mention of my deadbeat father. It once again all hit me at once and the pain and anger came right back to the surface. Half of me wanted to go back and have another run at Billy.

'_You will not do that,' _Sam said firmly.

'_I never said I was going to follow through with the urge,' _I told him. No, I wouldn't go back to Billy's, if for no other reason than because without Sam there to keep me in line, I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't phase and seriously hurt Billy. While that seemed appealing right now, I knew I'd regret it later.

'_Sam, maybe you should let Bella leave. She probably needs to be alone right now. We can handle Jacob without her.' _This came from Paul surprisingly. He was just being way too supportive for my liking. I almost wished for the asshole that called me leech lover. At least that was normal.

'_She's right, Dude. This is really weird,' _Jared said.

'_Okay, Paul's right, Bella. Why don't you patrol tonight? We'll handle Jake,' _Sam said.

'_Hey, I don't need anyone to handle me,' _Jake said irritably.

'_Thank you,' _I said. I felt bad for leaving my new little brother, but Sam and Paul were right. I needed time alone. So I took off running through the forest. t. I needed time alone. So I took off running through the forest.


	28. Chapter 28

**Sam's POV**

I walked into the kitchen the next morning and found Emily by the stove. She handed me a cup of coffee. "Thanks, Baby."

"Did you manage to get any sleep?" Emily asked.

"Not really," I said before taking a sip of my coffee. Sleep had not been in the cards for me last night. It took a good portion of the night just to get Jacob to phase back. It was nearly six hours before he was calm enough. Then we came back and spent two hours explaining him what being a part of the Pack meant to him. After all that was done, I tried to sleep, but I was just too damn angry.

I loved Bella like a sister. I felt everything for her that I felt a brother was supposed to feel for her. I loved her and I worried about her. I'd been furious with her. Last week was a prime example of that. And when someone hurt her, I got angry. I wanted to go out and murder Billy Black for walking out on her the way my father did me.

My anger at Billy knew no bounds. I always thought Billy Black was a good man. He'd been a good father to his three kids and he was a great chief. That was why I'd immediately dismissed the idea of him being Bella's father when it looked like it might be a possibility. I didn't think he was capable of leaving a child of his behind.

Billy had said that he didn't know that Bella was his at first, but I didn't believe that. I actually agreed with Edward. He didn't want to know that Bella was his. He didn't wanna have to explain to his wife and children that he'd slept with his best friend's wife and fathered her child. He didn't want the tribe to know that he wasn't the upstanding chief they all believed he was. Bella was an embarrassment to him. She was something he was ashamed him. And that made me furious.

"Sam? Sam did you hear me?"

I dragged myself out of my thoughts and turned to Emily. "What? No, I'm sorry, Emily. I was lost in my thoughts."

"It's okay. I think everyone is going to be like that for a bit. I was saying Bella hasn't come home yet," Emily said.

"I didn't expect her to have," I said. Bella was going through hell right now. It was unlikely she wanted to be around anyone, especially Jacob. It wasn't Jacob's fault and Bella knew that, but he was a reminded that she wasn't ready to deal with.

"Are you going to go after her?" Emily asked concerned. She felt the same way about Bella that I did.

"Not right now. She needs some time to herself right now. If she's not back by tonight, I'll go get her," I said.

"You really wanna wait that long? She needs us," Emily said.

"No. Right now she needs to be by herself. She needs time to think about everything that has happened without anyone else around to give her advice or invading her thoughts. That's why I wouldn't let anyone phase after we finally got Jacob back human," I explained. I had ordered everyone in the Pack not to phase. Well, not to do so intentionally. Even an Alpha command couldn't stop an accidental phasing. I knew at least Embry would be tempted to phase and try to go after her, so I made sure he wouldn't be able to. I understood his worry and I commended it, but Bella needed time alone.

Just then, I noticed Jacob come in from the living room. He'd spent the night on the couch. Actually, he'd be spending a lot of nights. I wasn't sending him home to Billy anytime soon. It wasn't out of spite, although I certainly had a lot of spite for Billy Black. I wasn't letting him go home he was extremely angry at his father and that anger would very likely trigger a lot of phasing in the future. It would be even worse if he was around him.

"Good morning, Jacob," Emily said with an inviting smile.

"Morning. I guess this means that last night wasn't an extremely vivid nightmare," Jacob said as he went over to the table and sat down.

"I'm afraid not," I said.

"So I'm a werewolf and my father's a cheating bastard. Wonderful," Jacob said sarcastically.

"Look, I know it's not an ideal situation…"

"Which part are you talking about? The werewolf part or the bastard father part?" he asked bitterly.

I went over and sat next to him. "Jacob, I know you're having a hard time dealing with your father's infidelity and finding out you have another sister, not to mention the whole werewolf thing, but it's going to be okay."

Jacob glared at me. "What the hell is okay about this? I'm a freaking werewolf! I turn into a giant dog and I have to spend my time chasing vampires. Yesterday my life was normal. I was just a regular guy and my father was a good man with three kids from the same woman, my mother."

Before I had the chance to reply, the rest of the Pack came barreling in. "Hey, Jake. How you doing?" Embry asked

Jacob just shrugged in response.

Embry sat down with us while Paul and Jared went towards Emily and the food she was making. "So did Bella come back?"

I shook my head.

"Ow!" I heard Paul yell.

"It'll be done in a minute. You can wait," Emily admonished him.

"Maybe one of should go after her," Embry said talking about Bella.

"No. If she's not back by tonight, I will go myself. Until then, we're all gonna let her be. Is that understood?" I asked firmly.

Embry reluctantly nodded his head.

"You've gotten close to her," Jacob said. It wasn't a question.

"She's been there a lot for me. The whole werewolf thing wasn't easy, neither was having to stay away from you and Quil. Plus we have the whole parental thing in common," Embry said.

Jacob frowned. "What are you talking about? You mean 'cause you don't know who your dad is?"

"Yeah, but it goes beyond that. You know that the whole werewolf thing is Quileute trait, right? So since my mom isn't, my father has to be Quileute, just like she knew hers had to be," Embry said.

Jacob looked at Embry for several moments and then jumped up and headed for the door.

Knowing exactly what he was thinking and where he planned to go, I got up and grabbed a hold of his arm just before he made it to the door. "No. You're not going anywhere."

"I'm going to talk to my father. Let me go!" Jacob yelled as he tried wrestle his arm free.

I held him firmly. "No! You're not going near him right now. Look, I know what you're thinking. Believe me, you're not the first one to wonder. The question will be addressed, but not now and not by you!"

"Please, Jake, let it go for now. You and Bella are already dealing with a lot. I don't wanna add to that now," Embry said. He had thought about it too obviously. It was hard not to. We already knew Billy cheated on his wife. Who was to say it was only with one woman. He could've very easily gotten with Embry's mother as well.

"Don't you wanna know, Embry?" Jacob asked.

"I really don't know. I loved your father like he was mine, so did Bella. Now she knows and it's tearing her apart. I'm not sure I want that to be me too. And are you sure you wanna know? I can see how much the Bella thing is hurting you," Embry said.

Jacob sighed and went back over to the table and sat down. "This really sucks."

"Yeah, I know," Embry said.

"Food's ready," Jared said as he came over with his plate.

"Cool. Come on, Jake, let's eat," Embry said. The three of us then went to go get some food.


	29. Chapter 29

**Bella's POV**

I woke up the middle of the forest. After hours of running around the reservation trying desperately to forget everything I learned last night. I ran until I physically couldn't take another step. Given my large energy level and great strength, it lasted until very early this morning. Then I laid down and passed out on the ground in wolf form.

When I woke up, I felt a cool body underneath my head. I knew it was Edward. Picking my head up and looking at him was only confirmation. I didn't know when he got there. It had to be sometime after I fell asleep. I must have felt his presence while I was asleep and curled up on him.

"Good morning, Love. I hope it's okay that I'm here. I tried to leave you alone, but I failed. I just needed to know that you'd be okay," Edward said.

I laid my head back down on his lap to let him know it was more than okay. Yes, I'd wanted to be alone for a while, and I was. Now I wanted to be there with Edward. I wanted the comfort only he could offer.

Edward pet my fur lovingly. "I guess you're not ready to go home then."

Of course I couldn't answer. I didn't really need to though. No, I wasn't ready to go back or even to phase back. All I wanted right now was to be here with Edward and not speak. I wasn't ready to phase my pack brothers or my actual brother. I knew I would have to eventually, but I wasn't ready yet.

So I just laid there with Edward. There was no communication, not from me obviously, but not from Edward either. He seemed to realize that all I needed from him right now was the comfort of his presence.

Being with Edward dulled the pain slightly, but not enough for my liking. The truth of my own father abandoning me hurt so badly. It hurt even worse to know that my father was someone I knew and acted like he cared. I believed it would've hurt less if it were a stranger. I wouldn't have expected as much.

But Billy wasn't the only one I was angry with and hurt by. Renee fit into that category as well. She'd lied to me my entire life. She'd at least known the possibility that Billy was my father and she kept it to herself. At the very least, she should've told me the truth before I came back to Forks so I could decide what to do about it. But then since when has my mother ever put me first? This is the woman that let me take care of her for years and then let me get on a plane to Forks so that she could her perfect life with Phil. Yes, it had been my idea and I said I wanted it, but she knew better. She knew that rain and me were not friends.

Of course I didn't regret coming to Forks. Yes, the town itself was everything I'd hated, but my life got so much better. I had Edward now. That in itself was about ten giant steps up. I loved him more than anything and I couldn't imagine life without him. Plus I had I had Charlie and two more surrogate families. The Cullens and the Pack were just as much family to me as Charlie. Wasn't that ironic? My family consisted of people who weren't blood. Well, accept for Jacob. He was blood and sincerely hoped that the two of us could find a way to have a familial relationship. It wasn't his fault that his… our father was a bastard.

I groaned at all these thoughts. I wished they'd just go away and I could forget about it all, but it wasn't working. All I seemed to think about was how screwed up my life had just become.

I laid there with Edward for hours. It was probably the longest I'd ever laid in one spot while awake. At some point I did fall asleep though because when I closed my eyes it was still light out and when I opened them, it was almost pitch black out.

Finally, I decided it was time to get up. I couldn't lay there forever, no matter how much I wanted to. For one, I was starving and for another, Sam would be looking for me soon. In fact, I was surprised he'd let this much time pass.

"Are you going to phase back now, Love?" Edward asked.

I barked, hoping he would take that as a 'yes'. Although, I didn't have clothes on me. Maybe it would be a better idea for me to wait until I got back.

Edward picked up a bag next to him and held it out. "I brought you some clothes."

I took them the bag with my teeth and headed deeper into the forest. I quickly phased back and got dressed before heading back over to Edward. I sat down next to him and curled into his arms. I wasn't totally ready to go back it seemed.

"It's going to be okay, Love. I know it doesn't seem like it, but it will?" Edward said as he stroked my hair.

"I…It hurts so bad, Edward. I didn't think it would. I told myself it wouldn't matter, that Charlie was my father no matter what. I do think of him as my father, but it still hurts," I said as I started to cry.

"I know. I think that before it wasn't completely real. Yes, you knew that one of your parents weren't so, but you didn't have any names or any explanations. You could think up your own explanation. You can't do that now. You know that your father chose not to be your father. Not only that, but he is someone you've known your whole life. That has to make it worse," Edward said.

I nodded. I'd pretty much thought the same thing. "You've seen inside his head. Did he care about me at all?"

"Yes. I saw it in his mind. You do matter to him. You matter enough for him to tell me that I'm not good enough for you," Edward said.

I growled lowly. Now that pissed me off! Who the hell was he to decide who was and wasn't good enough for me. Billy had no right trying to act like an overprotective parent now. He'd given up that right along with me.

"It's something I agree with him on, but that is an argument for another time. You want to know if he cares. Yes, he does, but in my opinion, it's not enough and it's a bit late in the game. Billy loves you, but not enough to put you first. He is more concerned with how his other children feel, such as Jacob. He did not want to tell Jacob the truth. It didn't matter to him as much what the truth would do to you. Though I doubt he's admitted that even to himself completely. It is simply my interpretation after seeing his thoughts," Edward explained.

"I shouldn't care what he thinks," I said. I felt like this shouldn't matter to me. I shouldn't care if Billy wants to be my father or not. I had a father. Hell, I've had two of them. Carlisle and Charlie were both father figures to me. There was also Sam, who had become an older brother and prominent influence. I didn't need Billy.

"You have every right to feel hurt. Billy is your father. Not the way Charlie is, but he is supposed to love you just as much his other children. The fact that he doesn't is painful," Edward said.

"I don't want it to be," I said.

"I know," Edward said.

We sat there for several more minutes before I pulled away. "I have to go back. Sam will come after me soon."

"Sam cares about you too. There are so many people that love you. I know you're hurting and as I said, you have every right to, but do not let Billy's rejection make you think you aren't loved. Billy is the one who lost out. He will regret it one day," Edward said.

I smiled and kissed him on the lips. We stayed that way for a few moments before I pulled away and stood up. "I gotta go."

"I'll come with you," Edward said as he stood up.

"No. I would love for you to come, but Jacob is too new. I won't risk you around him right now," I said firmly.

"I can handle myself," Edward said.

"Edward, last night, you got thrown through a door because you were too close to Jacob. Yes, I know you were fine, but I don't want to risk worse happening right now. I've had enough excitement," I said.

"Okay. I do not want to make things worse. I'll go home. I'll come find you in the morning. If you need me before then, call me," he said.

I nodded and kissed him again quickly before taking off through the forest.


	30. Chapter 30

**Bella's POV**

I made my way up the driveway of the house. Paul was sitting on the porch when I got there. "Hey."

"Hi. You decided to come back. Sam was giving it until tonight to come after you. Of course that was before he passed out. I guess he didn't sleep well last night," Paul said.

"Yeah, neither did I. What about the others? Are they all here?" I hoped not. I didn't wanna face everyone tonight. I knew I was going to have to speak with Jake and then Sam, but I wanted that to be all for now.

Paul shook his head. "The only one here is the newbie. Jared went to see Kim and Embry took went off with his leech about twenty minutes ago," Paul said.

"Alice showed up?" I asked surprised. The last I heard she was still avoiding Embry.

Paul nodded. "Are you okay?"

"Okay, Paul, you're starting to worry me," I said, only half joking. I wasn't used to a nice Paul. In fact, 'Paul' and 'nice' didn't belong in the same paragraph.

Paul sighed. "Look, I know I can be an asshole. Hell, I know I am an asshole most of the time. Don't expect that to spot anytime soon, by the way. But even I'm not such an asshole that I'm going to come at you at a time like this. I know I made that one comment when you first joined. I was about your le… your imprint."

"Thank you," I said. His words meant a lot. It was still really weird, but it was nice to know that I could even count on Paul to be there if I needed him.

"Billy's an asshole. You're better off without him," Paul said.

"Thanks," I said again.

Paul shrugged off my apology and stood up. "I'm gonna patrol.

I nodded to him made my way inside. Jacob was sitting at the kitchen table while Emily was nearby cleaning the kitchen.

Emily smiled and made her way over to me. She immediately hugged me, which I gladly reciprocated. "I'm glad you're home, Bella. We were getting worried about you."

I pulled away after a minute. "I'm okay."

"I was about to go wake Sam up and make him go find you. He passed out a couple hours ago," Emily said.

"Well, I'm glad I could save him the trouble. Let him sleep. Paul said he didn't sleep well," I said.

"No, he didn't. He's been really angry. Um, I saved you a plate from dinner. It's in the oven. I'm sure you're hungry," Emily said.

"Starving," I said before making a beeline for the oven. I took out the plate, grabbed some silverware, and sat down at the table across from Jake. Jake was looking everywhere he could but at me.

"Uh, I promised a friend down the street that I'd stop by. I'll be back in a little while. If Sam wakes, tell him I took the truck and I'll be back soon," Emily said before grabbing her keys and coat and heading for the door.

Jake and I sat there in silence for a while after Emily left. I ate while Jacob looked down at his hands. Finally, I decided to break the tension. "I'm sorry I left you last night. I should've stayed to help you."

"You had your life turned upside down last night. Of course you wanted time alone," Jacob said. He still hadn't made eye contact with me.

"So did you. I'm sorry, you shouldn't have found out like that. I was just so angry that I couldn't even think about you. I should've. I should've let Billy get you out of there like he wanted," I said. I felt really bad about that now. It wasn't the way Jake should've found out. I should've handled it better. Then Jacob would've phased in a few weeks like he was supposed to and it might not have been as traumatizing.

Jake looked up at me with anger in his eyes. His hands also started to shake. "You think I should've been ushered out? I deserved to know just as much as you did!"

"Jake, calm down," I ordered. "I never said you didn't deserve to know. I just don't think it was fair the way you found out. I should've thought more about you before barging in or demanding that you stay there. The one thing Billy was right about was that it wasn't your fault. You shouldn't have had to suffer because of my anger."

Jacob had visibly calmed by now. "It doesn't really matter how I found out. Even if it had been another way, I still would've been really pissed. I thought my parents had a good marriage. Now I find out that he had a kid with someone else while they were married. Hell, he might even have more than one."

"Embry," I whispered. It wasn't hard to figure out who he meant. I'd made that leap too. Billy had already had one kid that was the result of an affair. It was very possible that he had another. And even before the revelation about Billy, I'd considered the possibility that Embry was my brother. Our situations were very similar.

"Yeah. It's just so unbelievable. Not only did my dad cheat on my mom, but he had at least one kid that he never claimed. I thought my dad was a good man, but good mean don't leave their kids. You know, my father used to talk about Sam's dad. He used to say he was a despicable human being for walking out on his wife and child. What the hell makes him any different?" Jake asked. Once again, he began to shake with anger.

"You need to calm down, Jake. Your anger is very dangerous right now," I said seriously.

Jacob took several deep breaths until his body was back to normal. "I guess this is why Sam wants me to stay here. He said I couldn't go home."

I wasn't surprised to hear that. Sam would see that Jake's anger at Billy would cause him to phase frequently. He wouldn't want to risk that. "I think Sam's right to do that, Jake. You may be angry, but I don't think you wanna actually hurt Billy and you could."

Jacob shrugged. "It's not like I really wanna go home. I don't wanna be anywhere near my father right now. I'm not sure I wanna stay with Sam either though."

"Jake, Sam's a good guy. He's not how you thought he was," I said.

"I know that, but he keeps telling me what to do like he's my father. He told me I couldn't see Quil anymore," Jake said bitterly.

"I know that's how it seems. It did to me too. When Sam told me I had to move here and not see Charlie too much, I was really angry at him. I resented him for trying to tell me what to do. But, Jake, Sam knows what he's talking about. He doesn't enjoy forcing you like this. He's trying to do what's best for us and those around us. He's Alpha. It's his job," I said. Just then something hit me. Sam once told me that Jacob would likely take over as Alpha because he was a descendant of the last alpha. But now we knew that I was too. Not only that, but I was older than Jake. Did that mean I had a right to it?

I pushed that thought away. I could not deal with that tonight. I had too much on my mind as it was. I didn't need any more stress right now. I would have to talk with Sam about the possibility later, but not right now. "Uh, listen, I think I've had enough for tonight. Do you think we can pick this up tomorrow?"

Jacob nodded.

I quickly finished my dinner before putting my dishes in the sink and heading to bed. It was early, but I'd had a hell of a couple of days.


	31. Chapter 31

**Bella's POV**

I was up pretty early the next morning, just after eight in fact. It wasn't surprising since I'd gone to bed really early. I finally got a good night sleep. I dreamt about Edward and me most of the night.

After getting up, I walked down to the kitchen, passing a sleeping Jake in the living room. Emily was in the kitchen cooking, per usual, and Embry was sitting at the kitchen table with Alice.

"Morning, Bella. Did you sleep well?" Emily asked.

"Finally, yes," I said before passing her and sitting down with Embry and Alice.

"Hey, Bella. How are you?" Embry asked.

"I'm okay. I could be better of course, but I'm dealing with things," I told him before looking at Alice. "So you two finally talked."

Alice smiled. "Yeah. We've decided to just be friends for right now."

"Good for you guys," I told them. I was glad that Alice had stopped running from Embry. It wouldn't do either of them any good for her to deny the truth. I was concerned about Jasper though. I was just as much a brother to me as Embry and I was concerned for him. I didn't want to ask about him with Embry in the room though. I would ask later.

"Edward wanted me to check on you for him. He wanted to come by himself, but he knows you're worried about the newest mutt," Alice said.

I heard Embry wince from Alice's words. It obviously hurt to hear his imprint speak about his kind like that.

Alice heard him and looked at him apologetically. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that I don't really see you as one of them. You don't smell like a wolf to me. To me, you're just the sweet guy that I'm drawn to."

Embry smiled. "Thanks, but could you please try not to say it about the others too. They're my brothers and sister."

"I'd appreciate it too. My wolf is not thrilled by the way you just spoke of Jake," I said. My wolf was itching to attack Alice for disrespecting Jake. Luckily, I had gained a fair amount of control. My control still wasn't the best, but I had a handle on it, for the moment anyway. If I were to see Billy right now, it would likely be an entirely different story.

"Again, sorry. I'll do my best to stop. It's just a hard habit to break," Alice said.

"Food's ready, guys," Emily said.

Embry and I both jumped up and grabbed plates. We helped ourselves to bacon, eggs, and sausage and took it back to the table where we basically inhaled it.

"I'm never going to get used to this new appetite of yours, Bella," Alice said.

I snorted. "After three months, I don't think it can be considered new."

Embry polished off his food and then brought his plate to the sink. "I better go. I've gotta relieve Paul. Alice, can I walk you out?"

"Actually, I'm going to stay and hang out with Bella," Alice said.

Embry stiffened. It was clear that he was worried about his imprint being in the same house with a bunch of wolves that could phase at any moment.

"It's okay, Embry. I won't let anything happen and neither with Sam. You can trust me," I said. I of course understood his fear. I knew what it was like to fear for the safety of your imprint. I refused to even let Edward be around Jake right now out of fear that something would happen.

"I'll be fine, Embry. I can take care of myself," Alice assured him.

Embry looked like he wanted to argue but decided it wouldn't end well, so he simply nodded and walked out of the house.

I waited a few minutes to make sure Embry was gone and out of hearing range before addressing Alice. "So you finally realized you can't fight your connection to Embry. What happened with Jasper?"

Alice looked down sadly. "Jasper left. He seemed to realize that our relationship was over and he said he needed some time."

"He'll come back though, right?" I asked.

"He says he will. I've been trying not to look and see when or if. It's not fair for me to try to keep tabs on Jasper when I belong to another. Despite the fact that we've agreed to be friends for now, I know that Embry and I will likely be more someday. So I have to distance myself from Jasper just as he does me," Alice said.

"You're doing the right thing. I know it must hurt, but you're doing right by both of them," I told her.

"But I don't wanna lose Jazzy completely. I hope that one day we can be around each other without it being weird," Alice said.

Just then Jake came into the room.

"Morning, Jake," I greeted.

Jake looked at Alice and began to shake.

I immediately got up and stepped in between Alice and Jake. "Jacob, calm down.

"Sam!" Emily yelled out.

"Jacob, there are two imprints in the room. You cannot phase. You need to either calm down or go outside," I said firmly.

Jacob looked at me and then bolted out the door.

Sam came rushing into the room at that moment. "What's going on? Emily, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. There was a bit of an issue with Jacob, but Bella handled it," Emily said.

"He couldn't control himself when he saw Alice, so I told him to leave," I explained.

"So I guess that's why you wouldn't let Edward come with him here," Alice said.

"Good job, Bella," Sam said before going over to Emily and kissing her passionately on the lips. He then made himself a plate of food and joined us at the table. "How are you doing, Bella. I didn't get a chance to talk to you last night."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I just didn't wanna talk to anybody yesterday. I spent the day in wolf form with Edward," I told him.

"I understand. That's why I didn't come after you and why I wouldn't let anyone phase. Are you okay?" Sam asked.

"I'll live as long as I don't see Billy anytime soon," I said. I wasn't deluded enough to think I would never see him again. He loved on the reservation and he was the chief of our tribe. I would see him at all council meetings. Hopefully we could avoid another one of those for a while though. Right now if I saw him, I knew I wouldn't be able to control my wolf.

"You won't. You won't have to see him until the next council meeting. Other than that, he won't be welcomed here," Sam told me.

Just then we all heard a car pull up. I got up and peeked outside. I was not happy with what I saw. The car in the driveway was Charlie's cruiser and I could see that he wasn't alone. Renee was with him.


	32. Chapter 32

**Bella's POV**

As soon as I saw that my parents were there, I stepped away from the door and looked at Sam frantically. "It's my parents! Sam, I can't deal with this right now." I truly couldn't. My wolf was fighting to come out now just after having seen Renee. I was so angry with her that I couldn't contain in it. The only person to create such rage in my thus far had been Billy.

Sam immediately got up and headed for the door. "Sit down and calm down. I'll handle it."

I sighed in relief and sat down next to Alice. "Thank you."

Alice put her hand on my mine, but I immediately pulled away. "You can't touch me right now, Alice. My wolf is extremely agitated right now. Being touched by a vampire who isn't Edward could really send me over the edge."

"I understand. Sorry. I'm here for you if you need me though," Alice.

"Me too," Emily said as she sat down on the other side of me.

I listened and soon heard Sam outside. "Hello, Chief Swan."

"Sam. This is my ex-wife Renee Dwyer. We've come to talk to our daughter," Charlie said.

"Bella's not here right now," Sam lied.

"Don't lie to me! I see her truck in the driveway," Charlie said irritably.

"She went for a run," Sam told him. It was unlikely that Charlie would believe that. As far as he knew, I was still a horrible klutz and couldn't run to save my life. It wasn't true since I phased, but Charlie didn't know that.

"Bella doesn't run. She would break something if she even tried," Renee said.

Hearing Renee speak triggered another bout of anger and I began to speak. "Emily, Alice, please step away from me. I don't want anything to accidently happen."

Alice and Emily both got up and took several paces back.

"She does now," Sam answered Renee.

"You expect us to believe that our daughter suddenly became graceful?" Renee asked sounding skeptical.

"It's not really my job to convince you of anything. I don't really care if you believe me. You can believe me when I say that she's not here or you can choose not to believe me, which would mean that she doesn't wanna see you." Sam was getting irritated. He was controlled, but he was losing patience with Renee. Not that I could blame him. Even Carlisle would probably find himself losing patience with her after just a short time.

"I saw Carlisle Cullen's Mercedes in your driveway. Is that little punk here? I thought he and Bella broke up," Charlie said.

I let loose in involuntary growl after hearing Charlie speak that way about Edward. I didn't tolerate my imprint being spoken of like that well.

"With all due respect, Chief, who I have in my house, really isn't your business," Sam said. When he spoke to Charlie, he was respectful, yet firm. "However, it is Alice Cullen that is here, not her brother. She came to visit Bella and a boy who visits this place quite frequently. Like you, she found that Bella was not here."

"If she's not here, we'll wait," Renee said.

"No, you won't. You weren't invited here and I don't feel up to entertaining any more company," Sam said.

"You can't keep us from our daughter," Renee said.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I got the feeling that I was going to be forced to see them. Renee wasn't one to back down easily, neither was Charlie.

"I'm not keeping you from her. She's not here. If she wants to see you when she gets back, she can always call you," Sam said.

"Yet she never does. She never calls and she never comes to visit. I can't help but think you have something to do with that," Charlie said. He wasn't exactly wrong. Sam did have to do with why I wasn't in contact with him, though it wasn't out of malice.

"There's not much I can do about that, sir. I have no control of what you think," Sam said.

"You know what I think, Sam? I think you're keeping my daughter away from me. I think either Jake was right and you are some gang leader who has recruited my daughter for some unknown reason, or you're doing it to help someone else. The two of you maybe convinced her that her place was here" Charlie said. It was clear that 'someone else' was Billy.

I'd heard enough. I jumped out of my chair and headed for the door. I couldn't let this continued any longer. I couldn't let Sam fight my battles for me and I couldn't let Charlie possibly think I'd chosen Billy over him.

I walked out the door and towards Sam and my parents. "Stop it, please."

Renee glared at Sam. "So much for her not being here."

"Stop it, Mom. Leave Sam alone. He only did what I asked," I told her.

"You didn't wanna see us?" Charlie asked sounding hurt.

"I didn't wanna see her," I said as I glanced at Renee. Truthfully I didn't wanna see Charlie either, but that was because I didn't know what to say to him. Renee I didn't wanna see because I was pissed at her. "What are you even doing here, Mom? You're supposed to be in Florida."

"I was worried about you. Charlie called and said you'd moved in with strangers because your boyfriend broke up with you. I came to talk some sense into you," Renee said.

"I've been living here for three months. Are you trying to tell me that Dad just called you and told you? I find that hard to believe." I looked over at Charlie and found that I was right. His face alone told me that he had called Renee a while ago.

Renee shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I couldn't come earlier because Phil needed me, but I'm here for you now."

"And that's how it always works, isn't it? I've never been a real priority for you," I said bitterly

"Bella, that's not true. Why are you talking like this? Is it because of him?" Renee asked as she glared at Sam

"Leave Sam out of this! I've known him for three months and I can already count on him more than you!" I yelled angrily.

"I thought you said you were friends before that," Charlie said.

I mentally slapped myself for letting Charlie catch me in a lie. "I have. I misspoke. I meant to say that I've lived with him for three months."

"Bella, please, just come with us. If you really don't wanna live with Charlie, you can come home with me. I'd love that," Renee said. Her voice betrayed her though. She didn't want me living with her. She had probably only come to get Charlie off her back.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. I can barely stand the sight of you right now," I said. It was true. I was shaking and I could barely control myself.

Sam placed a hand on my arm to try to calm me.

"Hey! Get your hand off my daughter!" Charlie yelled.

"Dad, stop. Please, I need you both to leave," I said. They really needed to go before I was no longer able to control my wolf.

"We're not going anywhere, not until you at least tell us why you're so angry," Renee said.

I looked at her incredulously and I was about to speak when I heard another voice speak.

"What the hell is she doing here?"

We all turned to see Jacob a couple of feet away. "Oh, Jacob, get out of here!" I told him. If I could barely keep myself from phasing, Jake certainly had no chance.

"Jacob, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't like Sam Uley. And when did you cut your hair?" Charlie asked.

Jake didn't answer. He was too busy glaring at my mother and shaking wildly. "How dare you come onto our land?! You don't belong here!"

"I'm sorry, but who are you, young man?" Renee asked.

"This is Jacob Black," I said, knowing that the name alone would have an effect on her.

I was right. Renee flinched as soon as she heard Jacob's name.

"Jacob, go for a walk," Sam ordered. He used his regular voice, due to the audience, but it was clear that he expected to be obeyed.

I immediately took a step towards my brother and took him by the arm. "Come on, Jake, you and I will go for a run.

At that moment, Charlie took my right arm and observed my tattoo. He hadn't seen it before because I was standing next to Sam and he was blocking it. "You have tattoo?!"

"Bella, what's wrong with you?" Renee asked outraged.

Jacob snarled at her. "Really? You're going to lecture here on a tattoo after everything that you've done?"

"Come on, Jake. Let's go," I said as I pulled my arm away from Charlie.

He immediately grabbed it again. "No, you're not going anywhere until you explain this to me. Is this the gang initiation?"

"It's not a gang," I said.

Charlie looked at Jake next. "And what about you, Jacob? I thought you hated Uley and his gang."

"It's not a gang. I was wrong," Jake said.

"Jake, Bella, get out of here now," Sam ordered.

"Hey, you don't send my daughter away," Charlie said angrily.

"Bella, you need to come with us. I don't want you around these boys," Renee said.

"Nobody asked you!" Jacob yelled.

"This has nothing to do with you, young man. You know, I know your father. I wonder what he would say if he knew you were in a gang and were speaking so disrespectful,' Renee said.

That did it. Jacob was going to phase now and nothing was going to stop it.

I forced Jake towards the forest and we began running. Jacob phased just before we reached the trees and I was sure Charlie and Renee had seen him.


	33. Chapter 33

**Charlie's POV **

I watched in shock as Jacob Black changed from the boy I'd always known into some kind of… Well I wasn't sure what he'd turned into. It looking like a dog, but it was like no other dog I'd ever seen. It was huge and Bella was with it.

I immediately darted towards the forest to help my daughter. When I felt a warm firm hand on my arm. I looked to see Sam Uley holding me back. "Let go! I need to help my daughter!"

"Bella, will be fine, Chief," Sam said.

"Fine?! Did you not just see what he turned into? He could kill her! I have to go after them," I said as I tried to dislodge my arm. He was remarkable strong though. I barely was able to move my arm at all. "Let me go or I'll arrest you for detaining a police officer!"

"Chief, if you go after them, you could get hurt. Trust me, Bella can handle herself," Sam said.

"How the hell is she supposed to handle herself against a huge dog?!" I asked angrily.

"She can because she turns into one herself!"

Sam's words stopped me in my tracks. I stopped trying to get loose and looked at him in disbelief. "What?"

"You're crazy. Our daughter doesn't turn into that," Renee said.

Sam sighed. "Look, just come inside and let me explain. I promise Bella will be fine. She can handle Jacob. He won't hurt her."

I was hesitant. I still wanted to go after Bella and make sure she was okay, but Sam had just said she turned into the same thing Jacob had. If that was the case, she probably would be okay and I would probably just make it worse. "She better be okay."

"She will be," Sam promised before leading the way inside.

I followed him inside with Renee and saw Alice Cullen sitting at the table. Sam's fiancé, Emily was working in the kitchen.

Alice smiled at me from where she was sitting. "Hi, Charlie."

I smiled back at her and sat down. "Hello, Alice.

Sam and Renee both sat down as well. "Okay, I know this is confusing," Sam said.

I glared at him. "You think? I just saw Jacob Black turn into a…a…"

"A wolf. He turned into a wolf. Look, what I'm about to say is going to be hard for you to believe, though having witnessed it should make it easier. There are certain legends associated with our tribe. One is that we descend from wolves and that every generation carries the gene to shift into one," Sam started to explain.

"To turn into a wolf," I said in disbelief. If I hadn't seen it, I would've thought Sam was crazy, but I did just watch Jacob turn into a wolf.

"Yes. The gene usually awakens when a boy starts to become a man. So far it has occurred between the ages of sixteen to eighteen, and until a few months ago, it was only boys," Sam said.

"Bella," I whispered. Bella's transformation had been the change from just boys to girls too.

"Yes. She phased, that's what we call it, the night she went into the woods with Edward," Sam said.

"This only happens to people of this tribe," I said. It wasn't really a question. Sam had already made it clear that it was a gene in their lineage. So now I had the answer I never wanted. I always knew there was a possibility that Billy was Bella's biological father, but I never took steps to find out if it was true. I didn't want to know. As far as I was concerned, I was her father. I didn't need or want to know that I wasn't. But now I knew anyway.

"Yes," Sam said apologetically, confirming what I'd already figured out.

I turned to Renee and glared daggers at her. "Are you happy? Are you happy with what your affair has done to our daughter?!"

"What the hell are you talking about? I didn't do this," Renee said.

"The hell you didn't! You had an affair with Billy Black and this is the result! Bella has turned into some kind of wolf because you couldn't keep your legs closed!" I yelled. Okay, so I knew that maybe that wasn't fair. Renee didn't know this would happen and if she hadn't been with Billy, Bella wouldn't exist and that certainly wasn't what I wanted, but I was angry that this was happening and Renee seemed like the best person to take it out on.

"If this is even true then it's Billy's fault! He should've said something!" Renee yelled back.

"Okay, let's stop. Chief, I realize you're upset. I really can't blame you for that under the circumstances, but playing the blame game now isn't going to help Bella," Sam said.

"She knows?" I asked. With how hostile she was to Renee, I felt like she had to know, and Jacob certainly knew. The way he reacted to Renee made that obvious. I'd never even see that kid so enraged before.

"Yeah. She knew that something wasn't right with her paternity since she phased, but she found out about Billy a couple of days ago. She didn't take it well. She unleashed her anger at Billy and then she spent nearly twenty-four hours in wolf form in the forest. She actually just got back this morning," Sam explained.

"So this is why she was so upset? Why she lashed out at Renee?" I asked.

Sam nodded. "She didn't take the news very well. She's angry right now, mostly with Billy and Renee."

Renee had the decency to look away.

"Bella didn't move here because of Edward, did she?" I asked. I never really believed that, but now it was painfully obvious that I was right.

"No, Charlie, Bella and Edward never broke up," Alice said.

"They never will either. There is another legend of our people. It states that wolves will have the ability to claim their soul mates. It's called imprinting. What it means is that once their eyes meet, that person will become everything to the wolf. Bella found her soul mate in Edward Cullen just seconds after phasing for the first time. They will always be together," Sam said.

Well, it looked like I was going to have to get used to Edward being around Bella. I always assumed he was just a crush and it would end, and I thought it had, but that seemed like it wouldn't be the case. It wasn't like Edward was a bad guy. He was kind of weird sometimes, but he was alright. My biggest issue with him had been breaking her heart. While I didn't believe that was the reason Bella had moved, I did believe they broke up. I blamed him for that.

"I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time believing this. This is crazy. I'm getting Bella out of this place," Renee said before getting up.

Sam stood up and had this look of authority in his eyes. I knew that he was about to go at it with her over this. "Bella's not going anywhere. You have no say in what she does."

"And you think you do?" Renee asked.

"That's right, I'm Alpha," Sam said firmly.

"Wait, Alpha as in a wolf pack alpha?" I asked.

Sam's eyes softened and he looked at me. "Yes. That is exactly what we are. We're a pack and I'm in charge."

"So I was right. You forced her to come here."

Sam sat back down. "Yeah, I did. I had no choice. When we first phase, we have no control. Someone could get hurt. Take today with Jacob for instance. If Bella hadn't gotten him away when she did, he would've phased too close to the two of you and you would've been hurt or killed. I couldn't take that risk."

I wanted to be angry at him, but how could I fault his logic. He wasn't doing it to hurt me or Bella. He was trying to keep everyone safe. "When you grabbed her arm today, was it because she was going to phase?"

"Yes. She was so angry she was shaking. That's a classic sign of phasing. Bella's control has gotten pretty decent over the last few months, but it's not a hundred percent and this thing with Billy and her mother is testing that big time. She's got a lot of anger about it," Sam said.

"I know how she feels," I said. I thought I'd forgiven Billy and Renee for what they did, but lately I'd been really angry at the two of them, especially Billy. I'd blamed him for losing Bella, and it turned out I was right to. It was his gene in her that caused this to happen to her.

"Chief Swan, there's something I want you to know. Bella has always claimed that no matter what she found out, she would always see you as her father," Sam said.

"He is her father. Charlie, this is crazy. This guy is obviously lying," Renee said.

"Renee, shut up! If what we just saw with Jacob isn't proof that this is true, I don't know what is. You know it's true. You just don't wanna accept it because you don't wanna deal with the consequences of what you did. Well, get over it! This isn't about you! This is about our daughter!" I said angrily. No matter what any blood test or awakened gene said, I was Bella's father. No one would tell me otherwise.

Sam smiled at me. "Bella's lucky to have you. Lord knows she didn't get this kind of consideration from Billy. However, she's having a hard time dealing. I think she needs some time away from all three of you to do that."

I nodded. I understood that. I didn't like it, but I understood that Bella needed to be away from me right now. "I can do that. Just tell her that I love her and that I'm here when she wants to talk."

"I will. I have to ask you not to tell anyone about this. Our secrets need to remain that way. You're not even supposed to know," Sam said.

"I won't say a word, not that anyone would believe me," I said before standing up. "Let's go, Renee."

"You wanna leave without Bella?" Renee said in disbelief.

I shook my head in disbelief at her. "You know, it's a bit late to start acting like you care. If you really cared about Bella, you would've come three months ago when I called you. Now let's go," I said before grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the door.


End file.
